State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-ridge) said that Bergen County Democrats are not making a mistake by not fielding a candidate to run against U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) in the 5th Congressional District.

Sarlo would rather let Democrats from one of the district’s rural counties field their own candidate – a first, since all four candidates that Democrats have run against Garrett have come from Bergen.

“It’s such a diverse district…  A more viable candidate, in my opinion, would come from Sussex and Warren,” he said.

Bergen County contains about two-thirds of the 5th district’s population.  The district also includes four towns in northern Passaic County, all of Warren County and most of Sussex County.

“Most of the population is in Bergen but the conservative vote that usually wins that district is in Sussex and Warren.”

Privately, most Democratic leaders admit that they do not stand much chance of unseating Garrett this year, and would rather take their chances with the 2011 redistricting.  They saw a glimmer of hope in 2008, when blind rabbi/psychologist Dennis Shulman ran a spirited campaign and spent over $1 million, but morale was crushed when he wound up losing to Garrett without improving on the losing margin of Garrett's 2006 challenger, Paul Aronsohn.

The only candidate to express interest in running is Tod Theise, who served as an aide to Essex County Executive James Treffinger and as the West Orange GOP Chairman before switching parties and running unsuccessfully for Warren County Freeholder in 2009.