In this morning’s NJ, there is a long article about the uphill climb Lee has against Jack Markell in the Governor’s race. Tucked inside this article is a telling admission from Judge Lee:
He’s not wild about his campaign advisers’ decision to focus on a 1990s class-action suit against Nextel that names Markell among the defendants. Markell was a vice president then, when investors lost millions during a stretch of technical challenges for the fledgling telecommunications firm. Lee’s campaign launched a Web site to render its version of the story, calling it www.therealjackmarkell.com.
No one (as the article notes) can tie any wrongdoing to Jack in that case, and all Lee’s people can possibly get from this is some guilt by association which — as we see so far — has currency among folks who are likely to be his voters already. This is an association that no one thought useful when Jack was running for Treasurer, and I’m surprised that this is where the Lee folks find themselves now.
So take a good look folks. Add in crazy business like splitting up DNREC, this is what the next 23 days will sound like here — the crazy spinning of a party that has finally been stripped of its bankrupt “Ideas” brand.