Election ’09: Vote Today!
03
November
11/3/2009 REMINDER:
Polls open from 6am to 8pm
Get out and vote today!
11/2/2009:
It comes down to Beth Mason vs. Dawn Zimmer
With 24 hours to go before the polls open for a winner-take-all election, this race has decisively come down to Beth Mason vs. Dawn Zimmer.
A week ago, Hoboken411 moved Frank Raia out of his original place, to the Second Tier, leaving Zimmer and Mason alone among the pack. The weekly paper did the same thing on the Sunday front page declaring, “Zimmer and Mason are seen as the frontrunners in the mayor’s race.” Now that they took the week to catch up to us we’re prepared to go a step further.
Raia and Glatt fading, their voters may reconsider
Reputable sources in multiple camps say flash polls show Zimmer and Mason each have more than three times the voter support of Frank Raia or Kim Glatt. If the polls are correct, it means Raia and Glatt would have to quadruple their support in 24 hours to win the race. Even if every undecided voter went to Raia and Glatt they would still be two candidates competing for third place. The fact that Raia and Glatt are mining votes from the same base of support has been an issue from the start, with both sides making unsuccessful attempts to get the other out of the race.
As 411 called it last week, this is a mutual destruction society. With the race breaking down to Mason vs. Zimmer, people who declared as Raia or Glatt voters may reconsider their decision behind the curtain and go with the person with the best shot at defeating Zimmer. At this stage of the race – that person is clearly Mason.
Raia can’t escape history of losses, higher BoE spending
You’ll be hard pressed to find somebody in Hoboken who doesn’t like Frank Raia, but he’s been running for office for decades and has lost more times than he’s won. Even some of his allies confide they tried to convince Pupie to sit this one out after the humiliating defeat Kids First served up to him in April. In response Frank has run the best campaign of his life, turning to the “internets” in a big way to spread his message. In the end – it wasn’t enough time to build new support or heal old wounds.
As a parting shot, Raia offers this soundbite of Dawn Zimmer endorsing him for public office:
But Frank didn’t win the Freeholder election either. Had Kim Glatt not joined the race, Raia would have had a much better shot to line up Hoboken People behind him. In the final days of the campaign there is also an allegation Raia improperly handled absentee ballots that candidates are not supposed to touch. An investigation is underway, and Pupie denies any wrongdoing.
Where Glatt finds herself today, and what it all means in the end after the jump!
