A late entry, Zimmer prevails, campaign looks to November

Former Rep. Dick Zimmer, right, won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, defeating Joe Pennachio and Murray Sabrin: Politicker PhotoPRINCETON - Former Congressman Dick Zimmer secured the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate tonight, defeating opponents state Sen. Joe Pennacchio and college professor Murray Sabrin.

"Two months ago, I never thought I'd be running for U.S. Senate let alone anything else," Zimmer said, flanked by party officials including state Sen. Bill Baroni and former U.S. Senate candidate Anne Estabrook, who dropped out of the primary contest due to health reasons.

Taking aim at his fall opponent, current U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Zimmmer said, "You cannot expect someone elected 26 years ago to be the agent of change that we need."

Before taking on Lautenberg, Zimmer congratulated unsuccessful Democratic challengers U.S. Rep. Robert Andrews and Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello "for being advocates of change."

Zimmer told PolitickerNJ.com his greatest challenge in the general election will be "showing the voters of New Jersey that Frank Lautenberg is vulnerable."

Another obstacle Zimmer will face as the Republican nominee will be his attempt to straddle a persona that portrays him as both an agent of change as well as a candidate indebted to Republican machinery for critical support late in the game.

Asked how he plans to break out of the mold of an "establishment candidate," Zimmer said, "I ran a strong campaign tonight in counties where we were on the line and not on the line, I'm proud of the grassroots support that I had."

"What does it mean to be the establishment candidate?" asked spokesman Ken Kurson. "It means you are someone the party wants to win."

"The establishment wants someone to win that is electable," Kurson said, "it's not something that comes out of a backroom cabal."

Asked about the demands of the general campaign, particularly reaching beyond Zimmer's traditional party base, campaign manager Mark Duffy reiterated a message of fiscal responsibility that he sees as the campaign's golden ticket to Washington.

"We view this as an election about change, and our message of addressing fiscal issues is particularly salient to likeminded unaffiliated voters as well as soft democrats," Duffy said.

Entering this contest just seven weeks ago, campaign manager Mark Duffy admitted, "This hasn't been a typical campaign." Zimmer continued this theme in his victory speech, telling supporters "we're going to do some unusual things."

Asked exactly what things are in store, Zimmer responded with a smile, "They're unusual because they're supposed to be unexpected."