The Star Ledger’s Auditor reports that former Highlands Mayor and former Freeholder Anna Little is backing off her bid to challenge State Senator Joe Kyrillos for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate next year. Her eyes may be back on Congress.
For now, a tea party favorite, Anna Little, appears to be leaning toward a run, but she also has her eyes on Congress. She has set up a “Little for Senate” website, although she hasn’t declared her candidacy. “We’re thinking about looking at the redistricting maps before we do it,” she said.
The congressional redistricting map, which will reduce the number of congressional districts in New Jersey from 13 to 12, is expected to be announced this week.
The Auditor also reported that former Roxbury councilman Tim Smith will not be a candidate and that State Senator Michael Doherty will probably not be a candidate.
MMM is contacting those listed to inquire if they have endorsed Little for Senate. Their answers will appear on this post next to their names as they are received.
Anna Little, the former Mayor of Highlands, former Freeholder and the 2010 GOP nominee in the 6th Congressional district is one step closer to challenging Monmouth County State Senator Joe Kyrillos for the GOP 2012 U.S. Senate nomination.
Little told Politickernj that she would be filing with the FEC today to open a campaign account for her U.S. Senate bid.
Atlantic Highlands Municipal Chairwoman Jane Frotten has resigned as Little’s campaign treasurer. Atlantic Highlands Mayor Fred Rast has resigned as president of Anna’s Army Foundation, “a non-profit educational foundation created in the image of Anna Little and her campaign for Congress in the 6th Congressional District of NJ.”
Until recently, the race for the Republican nomination to challenge Senator Robert Menendez was seen as battle between Kyrillos and fellow State Senator Michael Doherty. Kyrillos has a Senate Exploritory Committee. Doherty has been traveling the state touting his Fair School Funding plan. MMM has learned from very reliable sources that Doherty is leaning against entering the Senate primary. If Doherty does stay out of the race, a head to head match up between Kyrillos and Little could be in the making.
Little should take a reality check and reconsider before her dreams of a political future are irreparably shattered.
Little made a name for herself with the stunning upset victory over Diane Gooch in the primary for the 6th congressional district nomination in 2010. Little’s margin of victory was 84 votes out of roughly 14,000 cast.
What Little has failed to realize, and she stops talking to anyone who tells her the truth, is that she didn’t win that primary so much as Gooch lost it.
Not that her victory was an accident. The strategy of the Little primary campaign was to sneak up from behind. I know because I, then still a close confidant of Little, helped design the strategy. None of the “experts” took Little’s challenge of the county party lines and the uber funded Gooch seriously going into the primary. That was the key to victory. Build a ground game to bring out new voters and count on the fact that the “experts” don’t see the Tea Party wave coming. Even the Tea Parties were shocked by the depth of the 2010 tsunami. David Corsi’s inexplicable primary victory over Scott Sipprelle in the Monmouth County portion of the 12th congressional district proves that the party establishment was caught with their pants around their ankles.
They won’t be caught off guard again.
The Gooch campaign’s primary strategy was to ignore Little and run against incumbent Congressman Frank Pallone. It was a good strategy for a conventional time. Conventional times ended in 2010 before the establishment realized it.
It wasn’t until the final weekend of the 2010 primary campaign when Little managed to get onto TV, that the Gooch campaign realized that they might have a problem. They tried legal maneuvers, that failed, to get Little’s ads pulled. It was too late to respond. Little had successfully used the “surprise them” and “get the last word” strategies that we had successfully used in Highlands campaigns many times.
The problem with a “don’t let them see you coming” playbook is that it only works once.
A key political operative with close ties to both Gooch and Kyrillos has been keeping a close eye on Little since she declared her rematch with Pallone on election night 2010.
“She won’t get a free ride next time,” said the operative on the condition of anonymity, “we had a thick opposition research file on her in 2010 but didn’t use it because we weren’t taking her seriously and didn’t want to hurt her needlessly. The file has gotten a lot thicker in the last year.”
With their discharge from Anna’s Army, Frotten and Rast join the growing brigade of Monmouth County politicos who will no longer go to battle for Little.
Roughly a year ago, this blog compared Little to Jon Corzine over a policy position she took in one of her final acts as the mayor of Highlands. Unfortunately, it is becoming apparent that Little also shares a personality trait with the former governor. She surrounds herself with people who tell her what she wants to hear and burns bridges with those who tell her what she needs to hear.
Little had a bright political future ahead of her on election night in 2010. Then she started talking.
She declared her rematch with Pallone, announced the formation of Anna’s Army and challenged Gooch, who had funded independent anti-Pallone ads, to a rematch. She failed to thank her supporters, Tea Party and establishment, who were caught off guard by her lack of humility.
She’s on the verge of crossing a line from which there will be no return. She should reconsider and start mending fences. Many of her old friends are forgiving.
The Record’s Herb Jackson reports that U.S. Senator Robert Menendez has raised over $10 million in special interest contributions for his 2012 reelection campaign. A look at the Senator’s FEC reports reveals that $5.3 million of that money was raised last quarter and that he had $6.9 million in cash on hand on September 30th.
Despite Menendez’s weak poll numbers, whoever the GOP nominates to challenge him will have a heavy lift. New Jersey voters are split 40-38 percent over whether the Hudson County poll deserves another term, according to Quinnipiac, yet they favor him 43-39 percent over an unnamed Republican.
Most All of the Republicans vying for the nomination are unnamed in the minds of New Jersey voters. Joe Kyrillos, Mike Doherty and Anna Little are names well known in political circles and to readers of this site, but are not households names throughout New Jersey. At the pace Menendez is raising money, the GOP nominee will likely need to raise $25 million or more to compete.
Little Impact
Anna Little’s fliration with the Senate race has many Republicans shaking their heads. Others are scratching their heads. Little’s FEC reports indicate no money raised in 2011 for her announced rematch against Frank Pallone. Yet Little has been sending fund raising letters,”paid for” by Anna Little for Congress 2012, the expenses for which are not reported, and is traveling the state and the country seeking support and singing God Bless America.
Should Little actually enter the Senate race and forsake a potential rematch against Pallone, her candidacy in the primary will ironically benefit State Senator Joe Kyrillos. Little would split the hardline conservative/Tea Party/Loneganite vote with State Senator Mike Doherty, making what is already expected to be a smooth ride for Kyrillos, should he choose to seek the nomination, even easier than previously anticipated.
Former Highlands Mayor and former Freeholder Anna Little is considering a primary run for the GOP nomination to challenge U.S. Senator Robert Menendez in 2012.
An announcement posted on TPATH, a website run by Tea Party activist Dwight Kehoe, declared that Little is running:
Breaking News – (TPATH) Anna Little, one of New Jersey’s most dynamic supporters of the Constitution and smaller government, has set her sights on the US Senate race in 2012.
Anna announced today that her battle to unseat one of Obama’s most ardent supporters, Robert Menendez, will run hand in hand with the battle to save America by making Obama a one term President. She intends to use all her resources, energy and considerable enthusiasm towards that goal.
The Anna Little For Senate Campaign Will be holding its first campaign meeting this coming: Tuesday
November 15, 2011
at 5:00PM
Keyport IHOP.
Little’s spokesman Larry Cirgnano told Politickernj that the 2010 6th Congressional District nominee is “leaning” towards the Senate race.
State Senator Joe Kyrillos has established an exploratory committee for the Senate nomination and is considered the front runner by GOP insiders. State Senator Michael Doherty and former Roxbury Mayor Tim Smith are also expected to compete for the nomination. Jets owner Woody Johnson has been rumored to be considering a run.
Anna Little spent Hurricane Irene in Texas singing her own praises to Governor Rick Perry.
Upon her return, Little proceeded to inform supporters that she will be the number 2 person in Perry’s 2012 presidential campaign in the Garden State and that her “ass will be the one to kiss” in the NJ GOP. Little wouldn’t disclose to her supporters who Perry’s number 1 will be.
Multiple published reports have indicated that Governor Christie has asked NJ Republican donors and operatives not to commit to a presidential candidate. I guess Little will no longer have front row seats at the Governor’s town hall meetings.
In an email to “Members and Friends,” Don Adams, President of the Independence Hall Tea Party PAC, declared that the PAC’s favorite candidate to challenge U.S. Senator Robert Menendez is Anna Little:
Independence Hall Tea Party PAC
July 25, 2011
Dear Members and Friends,
Not surprisingly, all five of the region’s Democrat US Senators voted against the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act this past Friday.
The real surprise is that we let them get away with it. Three of the five are up for
re-election in 2012–Bob Casey (D-PA), Tom Carper (D-DE), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ).
In New Jersey, several strong candidates have been mentioned as possible opponents to the tax loving, spendaholic Bob Menendez.
Our favorite is Anna Little. As a PAC endorsed candidate, Anna won an upset primary victory in the 2012 New Jersey 6th Congressional District race. She then narrowly lost the General Election to incumbent Democrat Frank Pallone in a district where Democrats largely outnumber Republicans.
Anna has been planning a rematch against Pallone, but PAC members have been discussing a Draft Anna Little for US Senate campaign.
Anna is an ideal senate candidate. She is articulate, charismatic, knowledgeable, and conservative. She has prior elective experience, serving as a Monmouth County Freeholder and Mayor of Highlands, NJ. She speaks fluent Spanish, and, if elected, would become the state’s first female US Senator.
If you agree with the draft Anna Little campaign, you’ll have an opportunity to tell Anna, yourself, at a luncheon withGrover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform.
Lunch with Grover Norquist
When: Tuesday, July 26, 12 Noon-2 PM
Where: Iberia Restaurant, Iberia Peninsular, 63-69 Ferry Street, Newark, NJ 07105 Host: Anna Little
Also, meet Bruce Gardner and Beverly Elliott of TEA for Education, a national organization.
Costs:You are responsible for your ala carte meal. Anna Little Campaign
Contribution strongly recommended.
On behalf of the PAC Board of Delegates,
Don Adams, President
If you are unable to make lunch in Newark tomorrow, feel free to express your thoughts on the idea of Little running for U.S. Senate next year here in the comments. I’m sure the word will get back to her.
Personally, I think Little should hold out for the Vice Presidential nomination. If elected, she would be the first female Vice President of the United States that speaks fluent Spanish, was a Monmouth County Freeholder, Mayor of Highlands, and who lost to Frank Pallone.
For the second consecutive quarter, Anna C. Little for Congress Inc has reported raising no money to the Federal Election Commission.
In the FEC Form 3 filed electronically by campaign treasurer Jane Frotten, the Little campaign says it spent $216.41 for communications (Constant Contact and Vonage) and bank charges. The campaign has cash of $1,749.64. $2,123 is owed to Larry Cirignano for travel expenses and $700 is owed to Little. The debt cash and debt are carried over from the first quarter report.
Little declared her 2012 candidacy for congress during her 2010 concession speech at the Shore Casino on November 2, 2010. Since then she has been a fixture at Governor Chris Christie’s Town Hall meetings and at party and candidate fund raising events. The campaign has a strategy meeting tomorrow, July 19, from 5PM-6:30PM at the Keyport IHOP.
The Wall Street Journal says that Pallone pocketed just under $25K after splitting the prize with his father and brother. Little raised no money and spent $5K on her campaign according to her most recent FEC reports.
However, Pallone’s winnings and war chest can’t buy him love from the New Jersey Redistricting Commission now that his ally Maggie Moran has been booted off the commission, just as NJ.com’s Auditor predicted.
The Democrats on the Redistricting Commission are former Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts, former Assemblywoman Nilsa Cruz-Perez, former Assemblyman Michael Baker of East Brunswick, former Pascrell Chief of Staff Ed Farmer, former Corzine deputy chief-of-staff Jeannine LaRue of Trenton, and Essex County Democratic Committee Chairman Phil Thigpen.
The Republicans are political strategist Mike DuHaime, former Burlington County Freeholder Director Aubrey Fenton, Morris County attorney Eric Jaso, Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande, Cape May Freeholder Susan Sheppard and National Federation of Republican Woman President Sherine El-Abd.
Not a Pallone loyalist on the list. As the senior Democrat in the NJ congressional delegation, Pallone’s seat should be safe from redistricting. However the commission is heavy with members loyal to Democratic power broker Donald Norcross and Republican Governor Chris Christie, neither of whom are fans of Pallone.
By the population numbers, the northeast part of the state should lose a congressional district when the new map is adopted. But Donald Payne’s 10th and Albio Sires’ 13th are minority majority districts that have to be protected. Combining Bill Pascrell’s 8th district with Steve Rothman’s 9th would make sense on paper, but the Democrats will never agree to surrender a seat without an election.
After both sides propose maps that guarantee the other side loses a seat, the commission will likely settle on a map that pits one incumbent from each party against each other.
MMM would love to see the southeast portion of Pallone’s district combined with Congressman Chris Smith’s district. Smith would crush Pallone. Phoney Palloney would probably retire from the House and run for governor rather than face Smith head to head.
The other reason we would love to see such a district is because it would likely mean that the Northern Monmouth portion of CD 6 would be folded into Rush Holt’s CD 12, setting up a four way race for the GOP nomination to unseat Holt between Strong New Jersey Chairwoman Diane Gooch, Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre (the only mayor in the universe to lower property taxes four years in a row), Little, and Lincoln Club of NJ President Scott Sipprelle. That would be a great race for web traffic and advertising revenue!
Anna Little spent Hurricane Irene in Texas singing her own praises to Governor Rick Perry.