March 16, 2009 - 4:25pm
Inside Edge

Christie wins Ocean County endorsement

The fifteen-member Ocean County Republican Screening Committee has voted to endorse former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.  If Christie wins the Republican convention next Monday, he'll run on the organization line in the June primary.  But the line has not delivered a plurality of Ocean County primary voters in a contested gubernatorial primary since 1993.   

A victory at the screening committee four years ago did not assure Morris County Freeholder John Murphy the organization line in the 2005 gubernatorial primary.  A week later, Murphy lost the convention on the second ballot to Washington Township Committeeman Robert Schroeder by a 52%-25% margin, with Douglas Forrester finishing third.  In the Republican primary, Forrester carried Ocean County by a 37%-27% margin over Bret Schundler, with Schroeder finishing third with 15%, followed by Steve Lonegan (15%), Murphy (6%), Paul DiGaetano (6%) and Todd Caliguire (2%). 

In 2001, Bob Franks ran on the organization line, but Schundler carried the county by ten percentage points, 55%-45%.  Last year, Andy Unanue won the Ocean County GOP convention in his brief bid for the United States Senate.

Wally Edge can be reached via email at politicsnj@aol.com.