The Hurley Line: Van Drew and Grossman, Strengths and Weaknesses

The Hurley Line:

Van Drew and Grossman,

Strengths and Weaknesses

By HARRY HURLEY

Political Columnist

 

New Jersey State Senator Jeff Van Drew, D-1 and Seth Grossman are running for the same position. One of them will be the next United  States Congressman from New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District.

 

There are local and national implications at stake. The path that each have taken to their respective party’s nomination and current standing in this general election season couldn’t be more stark.

 

Van Drew was the prohibitive favorite to win the Democratic nomination. Grossman was one of the most unlikely candidates to win the Republican nomination.

 

Van Drew ran a near perfect campaign. He spent only what he needed to. Van Drew made no missteps that he would have had to pay for in the general election. He survived the relentless daily attacks that he wasn’t Democrat-enough.

 

Grossman ran the best campaign of his long career in electoral politics. He caught the perfect wave on the Bonzai Political Pipeline and rode it all the way to the shore line. The judges raised their score cards and gave Grossman all 10’s. He earned a perfect score.

 

institutional Republican observers were shocked. They never saw Grossman coming. Readers of this column knew differently. Grossman skillfully ran an unapologetic pro-President Trump, “Make America Great Again” campaign.

 

Grossman also won Atlantic County off-of-the-line by a wide margin. The underdog had won the day and it wasn’t even close.

 

Van Drew is an even more compelling overdog in the general election campaign. Van Drew will raise millions of dollars. Grossman just celebrated hitting $ 50,000. It’s literally a Tale of Two Cities from a financial standpoint.

 

Van Drew has always been a very moderate Democrat. It has been extremely advantageous for his electoral career. He has consistently won the Democratic vote, along with many independents and even some Republican voters.

 

It has provided Van Drew with an unbeatable blueprint to achieve mandate level victories in almost every race that Van Drew has ever run in.

 

Van Drew has regularly won in what otherwise would be Republican districts. Grossman must hang his election hopes on turning this decided Van Drew advantage into a negative for the first time.

 

In a “Hurley in the Morning” exclusive Van Drew unambiguously confirmed that he will not support Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of The House. He joins more than 20 other Democratic candidates pledging the same.

 

I have no doubt that Van Drew’s word is good. If Democrats win the majority, he’ll keep his promise. Van Drew will soon have to deal with the issue of the many Democrats, who desperately want to impeach President Trump.  

 

The only peril that I see for Van Drew is that the Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez is clearly a Democratic-Socialist. His views are extreme, radical and dangerous for our Country.

 

The Perez agenda calls for no border enforcement, sanctuary cities and states, full benefits free college for illegals, and the elimination of ICE (United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement) to name a few.

 

Perez has celebrated the surprising victory by socialist candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over 10-term House Veteran Joe Crowley. Crowley is currently the 4th highest ranking Democrat, and was considered one of the front-runners to become Speaker of the Democrats with the majority.

 

Perez has titled Ocasio-Cortez as “The future of the Democratic Party.” This radical philosophy would take America towards a Venezuela-style socialist government.

 

This has also become the summer of very aggressive, violent Democratic tactics, which have been orchestrated by Congresswoman Maxine Waters and other radical Democrats. They are calling for Trump staffers and others to be harassed anywhere in public: restaurants, movies. They have called for “no peace, no sleep.” Their disgusting level of harassment is un-American.

 

These psycho tactics stand for everything that Van Drew is not. Van Drew is decent, honorable and kind to all. He is as close to a non-partisan elected official that we will ever see again. He should be held harmless. But, since he is a member of the Democratic party, their stink will be placed on him. This is as unfair as it gets, but it’s true.

 

The national Democratic Party is fast becoming the Democratic-Socialist Party. Incredulously, United States Senator Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, is actually more moderate then Ocasio-Cortez.

 

I take this opportunity to remind you that Sanders is a radical, unapologetic Socialist, who actually spent his honeymoon in Russia. Please take a moment and try to process this fun fact.

 

What does any of this have to do with Van Drew? Absolutely nothing. However, it is Grossman’s only viable play and potential path to victory. He has to try and deconstruct Van Drew’s entire successful career and paint him as a member of this radical Democratic-Socialist society.

 

I think this will be hard to do. Van Drew’s record of independence and voting his conscience is well established. To invent now that he is suddenly a radical, is not credible. Although the late State Senator Jim Whelan rewrote then Assemblyman Kirk Conover’s honorable life in 3 months time.

 

It was filthy, It was dishonest. It worked. They went on to play the same dirty tricks with former Assemblyman Vince Polistina, former Atlantic County Sheriff Frank Balles, and other distinguished Republicans.

 

Truth used to have a part in electoral politics. No more. They just make it up. The dirty lies are made up out of whole cloth.

 

Grossman is a fighter. He didn’t listen to all of those who questioned why he had even entered the Republican Primary. Van Drew always runs a positive campaign, with one exception: if you attack him, all bets are off. He is the ultimate counter-puncher.

 

When you hit him, Van Drew hits back 10 times harder, and he doesn’t let-up until 8:00 p.m. on general election evening.

 

There’s less than 4 months until general election day, Tuesday, November 6, 2018. This much I can promise you: It’s not going to be boring. This will be a hard fought race. And, Van Drew is even qualified to give you root canal, should you need it.