The Middlesex County Republican Organization Screening Committee has recommended that newspaper publisher Diane Gooch be the organization candidate for Congress in the sixth district.  Party rules state that the screening committee recommendation is awarded to a candidate who receives a super-majority, more than 67%, of the vote, after the interview process. Gooch, a philanthropist and Monmouth GOP Vice Chair, wants to challenge eleven-term U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch). She faces five rivals for the GOP nomination, including Highlands Mayor (and former Monmouth Freeholder) Anna Little and Rev. Shannon Wright.

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PLAINFIELD, NJ – Following her appearance at this morning’s conservative Tuesday Group meeting, Small business owner and community leader Shannon Wright, the conservative Republican candidate for Congress in New Jersey’s 6th Congressional District, announced today that four of the state’s top political leaders and operatives have joined her campaign team.

Jersey Shore Tea Party Patriots meet with strong conservative candidate to take on Rep. Pallone

PLAINFIELD, NJ – Small business owner and community leader Shannon Wright, the conservative Republican candidate for Congress in New Jersey’s 6th Congressional District, presented last night’s meeting of Jersey Shore Tea Party Patriots with her ideas on lowering the cost of health care, shrinking government, and lowering taxes on working families.

State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Middletown) is quiet about who the Republican establishment is going to back against U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) this year, but he insists there will be a real challenge to the entrenched congressman.

“I think it’s sorting itself out, but it will be a competitive district,” he said.

Although Kyrillos won’t say who the emerging favorite is to take on the daunting task of running against Pallone and his $4 million war chest, Republicans with knowledge of the district’s politics point to millionaire Two River Times publisher Diane Gooch as the favorite.  Because of her deep pockets, she supplanted Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini (R-Ocean Twp.) as the most likely choice of the establishment GOP, according to sources. 

The Sixth Congressional District has almost three times as many Democrats as Republicans, but Republicans hope to force Pallone, a statewide office hopeful, to spend some of the campaign cash he’s been able to hold on to through the past several election cycles, when he’s faced token opposition.  And so far, Republicans have had a much easier time recruiting possible challengers for what was once considered a kamikaze mission.

Assemblyman Sam Thompson (R-Old Bridge), who is in line to become the next Middlesex County Republican chairman, said that he knows of four people interested in running in addition to Gooch and Angelini.

One, Fabrizio Bivona, is a political newcomer. 

Bivona actually lives in Bergenfield – about 35 miles north of the district.  But even though federal law only requires candidates for Congress to live in-state and not necessarily within the district (Gooch actually lives just outside the district’s boundaries), Bivona plans shortly to move to Neptune, in Monmouth County. 

Bivona is a career firefighter and paramedic who was a first responder at the World Trade Center on 9/11.  In 2004, he published a book about that day titled Gone but not Forgotten, and recently became an outspoken critic of the Justice Department’s original intention to try accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York.  He could not immediately be reached for comment.

Rev. Shannon Wright says she has dropped her Independent bid for Governor because mother's illness prevented her from filing her nomination petitions before today's 4PM deadline.  Wright announced her candidacy last month after quitting as campaign manager for Brian Levine, the Mayor of Franklin who had been seeking the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

The full text of Wright's statement:

The number of Independent candidates for Governor is now up to six: former state Environmental Protection Commissioner Christopher Daggett, Kinnelon attorney Gary Steele, former Princeton Council candidate Joshua Leinsdorf, Alvin Lindsay Jr. of Sewall, Kostas Petris of Trenton, and Gregory Pason, a frequent candidate of the Socialist Worker Party USA.  Rev. Shannon Wright, an African American minister, was expected to file at 1PM; instead, she will speak to reporters at 4PM.  Libertarian candidate Kenneth Kaplan has not yet filed.

The deadline for Independent candidates to file petitions is 4PM tomorrow.  In the race for Governor, so far only former state Environmental Protection Commissioner Christopher Daggett and Trenton resident Kostas Petris have filed nominating petitions.  Two other announced candidates, Libertarian Kenneth Kaplan and Rev. Shannon Wright, an African American minister who began the cycle managing Brian Levine's campaign for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, have not yet filed.

Pastor Shannon Wright, a Democrat-turned-independent who ran Republican Brian Levine's gubernatorial campaign, says that she has a plan to gather more than enough signatures to get on the ballot and raise the $340,000 necessary to qualify for matching funds.

But the African American pastor stopped short of revealing her plan to get on the ballot and raise $340,000, suggesting that the details will come later.

Wright did say, however, that her campaign will be looking for petition signatures in places overlooked by the major party candidates, be it inner-city neighborhoods or towns in South Jersey.  They hope to get somewhere from 7,000 to 11,000 signatures to get on the general election ballot, well beyond the required 1,000.

"When you include people who are mostly excluded, they're very eager to help with signatures," Wright said.

Gov. Jon Corzine has an upside-down 40%-49% approval rating and trails Republican Christopher Christie by four percentage points, 39%-35%, according to a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll released this morning.  Corzine has an upside-down favorable rating of 43%-47%.

Corzine leads another Republican, former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, 37%-33%. 

The poll did not include a Republican primary ballot test.

“For a Democratic incumbent in a blue state like New Jersey, Jon Corzine is certainly not in an enviable position.” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “However, the Republican primary campaign has recently taken a nasty turn which may have stalled Chris Christie’s momentum and boosted Steve Lonegan’s profile.”

SOMERSET – Pledging to run an aggressive, grassroots campaign focused on improving healthcare, safety and education, Pastor Shannon Wright of Plainfield on Saturday officially announced her entry into the gubernatorial race as an independent. 

“It’s time to put the bloom back in the Garden State,” proclaimed Wright, joined by her husband, Pastor Michael Wright, their two children, Chandra and Michael, and her mother, in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

“It's an honor and a privilege to have this opportunity,” said the candidate. “If I become an example for young girls, proving that they can be anything they want to be, then I've done my job. I'm looking forward to doing what it takes to get New Jersey back on track and it would be an honor to be the first African-American woman in a position to do that." 

She won’t reveal how she intends to finance her run for governor, but promises to run hard and campaign in every county. When asked if she could live with being the Ralph Nader of New Jersey in the event she stays in the campaign through Election Day and records just enough votes to swing a close Democratic-Republican contest, she said, “It’s Politics 101 that one person can’t elect of unelect anyone.”  

She will not unequivocally commit to staying in this general election until the end, however.