5/13/2009 Update:
Hoboken Election Recap
So much for fusion. Polarization is alive, well, and seen in the numbers from yesterday’s election.
When Beth Mason put her slate together she thought she was putting the best of Old Hoboken voting blocs together with her New Hoboken values. It turns out neither Hoboken was convinced. Meanwhile, Peter Cammarano was busy selling himself, while possibly selling his own ticket short. Cammarano was the top vote getter, but only one member of his slate appears to be heading to the runoff. Even though Mason is out of the running by over a thousand votes, two members of her slate unofficially secured enough support to be on the runoff ballot. Dawn Zimmer heads to the Runoff Election on June 9th in a close second place finish with her entire ticket coming with her for the ride.
Cammarano on top, Alicea comes along
Following an absentee ballot count last night, Cammarano received 3755 votes and Angel Alicea appears to be unofficially heading for a runoff (provisional ballots may come into play) but with only 2534 votes. Vinny Addeo (2624 votes) and Raul Morales II (2576) came in ahead of Alicea despite Mason’s 3rd place finish in the Mayoral vote (2541). As Cammarano surged ahead, he left behind allies Michael Novak and Frances Rhodes-Kearns, who each failed to make the next round as many old school voters chose names they knew from the Mason team instead.
Zimmer and Team hold support together
Meanwhile, some voters for Mason appeared to choose from Zimmer’s slate, as Carol Marsh (3719 votes) and Ravi Bhalla (3698) received more than Zimmer’s 3671 vote tally. David Mello’s 3361 votes are good enough to get him into the runoff, as was Zimmer’s strategy going with an all newcomer team. The question now: is it enough to push the Zimmer ticket to victory on June 9?
Shades of 2005, but still different
Addeo and Morales could decide to go it alone for the runoff or join with Alicea on a new slate in opposition to the Zimmer team. Regardless of that decision the race will once again be see by many as “Old Hoboken” (Cammarano by default, Alicea, Addeo and Morales II) vs. “Newcomers” (The Zimmer Team). Though history isn’t kind to newcomers in this situation, the fact that Cammarano and Zimmer were only 74 votes apart makes things more interesting. At this point in 2005 Dave Roberts was over 800 votes ahead of Carol Marsh heading into a runoff with thousands of Old Hoboken votes cast for Frank Raia and Mike Russo just waiting to be picked off by the better funded Roberts.
So that brings us to THE MONEY
The next few days will be spent by the Cammarano and Zimmer campaigns furiously trying to nail down support and contributions to gain the ultimate prize. While Zimmer and Marsh may be looking to cash in some chits with Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise and other friends in Jersey City, Cammarano will be tapping his politically connected law firm’s statewide network of influence and cash to attempt to gain support. The fact that Jersey City Mayor Jerry Healy won his race outright means the HCDO has time and money to spend in Hoboken. But will they, and if they do, who will that work out best for? Cammarano or Zimmer?
The biggest winner: Voter Apathy
With all the talk about tax hikes and “change”, only 10,614 people voted in this election. That’s less than half the number of registered voters in town, and less than both the 2005 first ballot and runoff elections.
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Hoboken NJ
Technorati Tags: Beth Mason, Dawn Zimmer, Mayoral Election, Peter Cammarano, Runoff
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