Barnegat Merry-Go-Round: Pro Wrestling at the High School or at the Polls?

I quit watching professional wrestling a long time ago because I found something better: Republican primaries in New Jersey.

Unlike WWE, the insults and trash talk are unscripted and real. For example, the 2009 primary contest between Chris Christie and Steve Lonegan made a no-holds-barred steel cage match at Wrestlemania look like a love-in.

And the following general election for Governor between Christie and Corzine was like shuffleboard compared to all the eye pokes and hair pulling in the GOP primary. This was about the same time that the tea parties were starting to make their presence felt, and there were numerous primary contests between insurgent Loneganistas and Republican incumbents in the State Assembly races that year.

There was a "Lonegan line" on almost every primary ballot throughout the state, even here in Ocean County. There is something about the eternal struggle between rabid rightists and moderate "Republicans In Name Only" (i.e. RINOs) that evokes memories of watching chair shots and barbed-wire bats on TV shows like "Extreme Championship Wrestling."

OK, so Linda McMahon is not running in the New Jersey Republican primary this year (though I hear she may run for Joe Lieberman's US Senate seat from Connecticut next year).  But we do have an interesting GOP primary next month that pits independent (is it OK to say "tea party"?) candidate Phil Checchia, who will be running for Township Committee on his own line against the (is it OK to say "RINO"?) establishment-endorsed team of incumbent Marty Lisella and former committee member Maxine Blumenthal. 

The latter two will be on the same line as the rest of the Ocean County GOP ("Boss" George Gilmore)-endorsed candidates for Freeloader and Legislature. I'm not expecting the kind of slobberknocker I used to watch between Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan, but it may become quite hot (and I'm not talking about the summer weather) as we get closer to June. 

Phil Checchia has been around town a long time, active in community affairs, and knows how to differentiate himself from the more "establishment" Republicans on the Township Committee. It will be interesting to see whether he promotes himself as a "tea party" alternative to the other candidates. 

So far it has been pretty quiet. Less than thirty days before the election, and I still haven't seen signs up for any of the candidates. In fact, the only signs I've seen around town recently are the ones promoting a prowrestling show at Barnegat HS on May 27.

Maybe there will be a handicap match featuring the three candidates. Hopefully there will be at least one or two debates before the election, but I won't hold my breath as I strongly suspect the "establishment" candidates have as much desire to debate Phil Checchia as Chris Christie has to share a table with NJEA President Barbara Keshishian at the Barnegat Diner. 

So far, none of the candidates have reported any cash in their campaign accounts. The  Barnegat GOP Finance Committee does report $3,500, but I don't know whether they will use any of that in the primary.

My guess is Lisella/Blumenthal will rely on organizational turnout, while Phil Checchia depends on his reputation in the community and word of mouth. Hopefully, maybe, this blog will help him get the word out that there is a contested GOP primary, and an alternative to the same old/same old usual suspects we've come to expect from the GOP political machine. And I'll be checking those campaign finance reports that have to be filed 11 days before the primary to see if there are any "special interests" we should know about that are donating to any of the candidates.