Michael DuHainme

March 23, 2009 - 2:39pm

On the gubernatorial front, things get testy between Cardinale and Shaftan

It was a tough crowd for state Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Demarest).

Speaking as a surrogate for gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie to a group of conservatives who mostly supported rival candidate Steve Lonegan at the Conservative Leadership Breakfast at a diner in North Brunswick, Cardinale was interrupted by Lonegan's chief strategist, Rick Shaftan, while he was making the case for Christie's conservative ideals. 

"This guy was just out there spewing cold lies out so I just corrected the record a bit," said Shaftan.

That led to a testy exchange between Cardinale and Shaftan that would soon reverberate in the conservative blogosphere and add another layer of drama to an already tense primary campaign.

While Lonegan has taken a confrontational tone with Christie since he entered the race, the Christie camp has, at least until recently, purposefully refused to engage Lonegan.  Last week, Christie gave a rare acknowledgement of Lonegan, albeit without mentioning his name, by criticizing his decision not to compete for party support at Republican county conventions.  But it largely has fallen to Christie's supporters, like Cardinale, to debate with the Lonegan loyalists.

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