June 2, 2009 - 7:18am
News

Merkt casts his vote, says losing not a 'tragedy'

Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham) gets interviewed by WPIX moments after voting.

MENDHAM TWP. - The press cleared out for the most part, leaving one sound truck behind to greet Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham), who voted here at the same community club as Republican frontrunner Chris Christie.

"If it doesn't work out, it's a disappointment, not a tragedy," said Merkt, an underdog attorney from Christie's hometown who lives here in the Brookside neighborhood, where a scattering of Merkt for governor signs dot the picket fence-framed front yards.

Having run as a conservative populist, Merkt ends the race with a renewed sense of dismay about the boss-dominated process here in New Jersey, and fears the utter encroachment of a plutocracy on the Democratic system.

Max Pizarro is a PolitickerNJ.com Reporter and can be reached via email at max@politicsnj.com.

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