Mercer County Republicans missed yesterday's deadline to fill a vacancy on the Freeholder slate, and as Democrats see it, have given up their chance to replace Darren Chell on the ballot.  Asked why Republicans couldn't take advantage of the 2002 New Jersey Supreme Court's voter choice decision (the one the allowed Democrats to replace Bob Torricelli with Frank Lautenberg in the Senate race -- and affirmed a year later when Democrats replaced Joseph Suliga with Nicholas Scutari), one Merce Democratic leader said that the extended deadline to switch candidates only applies to vacancies that come before the deadline to drop out -- not after the deadline.

Mercer County Republicans voted to postpone the endorsement of a U.S. Senate candidate tonight and will wait and see if biotech millionaire John Crowley decides to enter the race.

“We have two new candidates, one from Mercer County,” said Mercer County GOP Chairman Roy Wesley. “So it’s almost like we have one of our own who we need to give some consideration to.”

Crowley, 39, was a Bristol-Myers Squibb executive eleven years ago when he found out his 15-month-old daughter and four-month-old son had a rare and fatal neuromuscular disease. He wound up leaving to head up a series of biotech firms and has raised a reported $200 million for research of genetic diseases. Harrison Ford is expected to play Crowley in a film about his life.

In an informal vote, taken by a show of hands, Mercer Republicans overwhelmingly supported deferring a formal endorsement in the Senate race, and authorized the party’s executive committee to award the organization line sometime before the April 7 filing deadline.

State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio and Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin attended the convention. A third candidate, millionaire businessman Andy Unanue, is vacationing in Vail.