Dems picked spoiler candidate - DeStafano

[clearvision]

Courier-Post, NJ:

On a balmy evening last May, about three dozen members of the South Jersey Young Democrats convened at the Camden County Democratic Committee Headquarters in Cherry Hill.

Freeholder Jeffrey Nash warned the assembled crowd of party volunteers and legislative aides that the sour economy would make the coming election season difficult for the Democratic majority.

He told the young activists they had to get out the vote for Democrats in the fall.

Then Steve Ayscue -- a paid CCDC consultant -- took the floor with a bearded, flame-haired man few had seen before. The latter was Geoff Mackler, dispatched from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to lead freshman Rep. John Adler's re-election campaign.

Ayscue and Mackler had a plan to ensure Adler's victory. They just needed volunteers.

Internal numbers-crunching showed the difference between Adler and his Republican opponent -- then undetermined -- would hover around 5 percent. To give Adler an edge, Ayscue had recruited a then-unidentified man to run as a third-party candidate.

That candidate would act as a conservative spoiler to confuse voters and pull votes from Adler's eventual Republican challenger. But first he had to get on the ballot. With the filing deadline just weeks away, CCDC needed volunteers to hit the streets and collect signatures -- fast.

Some of the SJYD members were stunned. Others willingly signed on.

By June 8, more than the 100 valid signatures needed were collected and received by the state Division of Elections.

That candidate was Peter DeStefano, a picture framer from Mount Laurel. On Nov. 2, he will appear on the "NJ Tea Party" line on the ballot.

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Fake "Tea Party" candidate. Pretty detailed article with lots more at link. Appears the Dem candidate selected him, got signatures for and did initial polling that put him on the map.

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Found this on how close the race is:

 

Adler’s lead over Runyan narrows to 41 percent to 39 percent when the poll uses a likely voter model – a lead within the survey’s margin of error.

 

The poll has the "fake" candidate at 4% enough to sway the election.

[pollyannaish]

You know, in the short run this helps. In the long run it builds enormous distrust of your party. I hope they get the word out.

 

This all goes back to my frustration with people going for the quick win at the expense of the long term relationship. Ack.

[clearvision]

Here is Adler's denial he(his people) had anything to do with it:

 

"I believe in my heart, my people have nothing to do with other candidates," Adler said in an interview Friday morning.