Quinnipiac Poll: Lonegan Within 12 Points Of Booker

Booker has not made a public appearance in New Jersey since September 15

Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Steve Lonegan has gained significant ground over the last two weeks in his quest to replace the late Frank Lautenberg in Washington, according to a Quinnipiac University Poll released this morning.

Democratic nominee, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, leads Lonegan among likely voters by 12 points,, 53%-41%, with three weeks to go before the October 16 special election.

Booker had a 35% lead over Lonegan in an August 7 poll of registered voters.

In a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll two weeks ago of likely voters, Booker was leading Lonegan by 35%.

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Lonegan pokes fun at Booker with red carpet affair in Newark

Lonegan pokes fun at Booker with red carpet affair in Newark (via NJ.com)

NEWARK — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Lonegan glided up the red carpet, his wife at his side, and posed as the flash bulbs popped tonight. Then Lonegan, the former mayor of Bergen County’s Bogota, walked inside a Newark restaurant, into…

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Lonegan To Hold Red Carpet Fundraiser In Newark Tonight

Cory Booker is in Hollywood tonight where Jason Bourne and Batman are holding a big ticket fundraiser for the Superhero wannabe Senator.

GOP nominee Steve Lonegan is answering by holding a Red Carpet fundraiser in Newark, featuring stars from New Jersey — everyday people that make New Jersey a great place to live.

What: A Night with the Stars of New Jersey

 When: Monday, September 23, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

 Where: Kings Family Restaurant

557 Clinton Avenue

Newark, NJ 07108

 Guests will be wearing some of the latest styles from:

• Faded Glory
• Hanes
• Old Navy
• Levi’s

• And more!

Listen to Lonegan’s radio ad here.

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Speaking to parties’ bases, Booker and Lonegan propose unlikely ideas

Speaking to parties’ bases, Booker and Lonegan propose unlikely ideas (via NJ.com)

Democrat Cory Booker wants to reinstate a federal ban on assault rifles, give $400 a year to poor kids for college funds and pass comprehensive climate-change legislation. Republican Steve Lonegan wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, end the Federal…

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Steve Lonegan praises Rahm Emanuel, bashes Cory Booker in Jersey City

Steve Lonegan praises Rahm Emanuel, bashes Cory Booker in Jersey City (via NJ.com)

JERSEY CITY — Steve Lonegan was hoping to scrap with Rahm Emanuel in Jersey City. Instead he ended up complimenting him — sort of. “I want to commend Rahm Emanuel,” Lonegan said, standing outside of the downtown restaurant where Emanuel and…

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Shaftan: Lonegan in Single Digit Range

Long-Time Lonegan Strategist, Pollster Sees Much Tighter U.S. Senate Race Than Public Survey Results Reflect

By Matt Rooney, SaveJersey.com

He’s one of most controversial figures in Garden State politics, Save Jerseyans, but in all candor, I always enjoy talking shop with Rick Shaftan.

For those who don’t know (maybe you’re tuning in for the first time this cycle), Rick Shaftan is a campaign strategist/pollster for Republican candidates across the country (and a couple Dems, including state Sen. Nick Sacco). His most famous client is Steve Lonegan, and their relationship goes back many years; Shaftan’s cameo in Anytown USA – a documentary following one of former Mayor Lonegan’s Bogota reelection campaigns – is well worth the watch.

I had a chance to catch up with Rick on the phone last night when he was in between an event and a campaign conference call (and I had just returned from a cocktail party and was settling down for a tedious evening of busy work and HBO GO viewing).  His message to me concerning the 2013 U.S. Senate special election: don’t believe the public polls. “This is a single digit race,” Shaftan declared. Even his detractors who think Rick is crazy would never make the mistake of believing he’s stupid. I brought up the fact that conservatives (including yours truly) didn’t believe the 2012 public polling only to have those polls largely verified by the final result.

Rick Shaftan’s counter: 2013 isn’t 2012…

In short, Lonegan completely rejects the idea that Mayor Lonegan is trailing by large margins and that the nominee is underperforming with the GOP base; his argument is that the major public polls are failing to adequately screen for who is actually likely to show up at the polls to choose between Cory Booker (D-Twitter) and his candidate.

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Booker’s Hecklers Disrupt Lonegan’s Newark Press Conference

Lonegan and his Newark supporters allege Booker paid hecklers

GOP nominee for U.S. Senate Steve Lonegan went to Newark yesterday afternoon to underscore Democratic nominee Cory Booker’s hypocrisy and failure.

A group of perhaps a dozen Booker supporters made sure Lonegan wasn’t heard by the press, no matter how hard the reporters present struggled to hear what the former Bogota mayor had to say.

Lonegan called a press conference at 130 Court Street in Newark, a home that Booker bought for $175,000 in November of 2009 and left in a state of disrepair until he sold it to Newark Now, a non-profit Booker founded, in March of this year for $1.00  The Record reported last weekend that the home has been a neighborhood nuisance since Booker bought it.   The New York Post reported yesterday that squatters living in the home caused a fire last year.

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Rand Paul slams Booker and his ‘imaginary friend’ as he endorses Lonegan

Rand Paul slams Booker and his ‘imaginary friend’ as he endorses Lonegan (via NJ.com)

CLARK — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a leader of the tea party wing in Congress, today endorsed Republican Steve Lonegan in New Jersey’s U.S. Senate race and came out swinging against Newark Mayor Cory Booker and “his imaginary friend T-Bone.” “There’s 15…

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Booker Administration Denies Stonewalling For Cory, Another OPRA Request Apparently Ignored

photo via facebook

A spokesman for the Booker administration in Newark is denying reports that the city is stonewalling the response to OPRA requests, according to a report on PolitickerNJ.

The City of Newark has been sued by The National Review and the Lonegan for Senate campaign for failing to comply with Open Public Records Act requests.  NR is seeking police reports from a shooting incident during which the victim died in Booker’s arms, according to numerous stories the mayor has told over time.  The Lonegan campaign is seeking Booker’s expense and reimbursement reports from the city during his tenure as mayor.

According to PolitickerNJ, City spokesperson James Allen disputed NR’s claim, saying that the city promised to provide the police reports by September 13.

John Ginty, the Lonegan campaign’s attorney, told MMM that since filing his suit, the city has promised to comply and provide the requested documents, also on September 13.

However, NR and Lonegan are apparently not the only information seekers being thwarted.

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More Booker Stonewalling

© Jim Urquhart / Reuters;

GOP U.S Senate nominee Steve Lonegan has sued the city of Newark for the release of Mayor Cory Booker’s expense records since he took office, because the city has failed to comply with the Lonegan campaign’s OPRA (Open Public Records Act) requests.

Newark activist Donna Jackson said that Newark’s government is hiding the real conditions in the city in an effort to give Booker political cover. “Booker’s national profile is killing us,” Jackson said.

Now, today we learn that Newark has also been stonewalling the National Review over public records.

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