Parker on the reason he dropped out:
“I think any Democrat who gets placed on the ticket expects full support from people who are important to the Democratic Party, whether that be elected officials or families of elected officials or former officials,” Parker said today. “As we went through this process, it became apparent that wasn’t necessarily the case. Realistically, there are certain factions of the system out there that you have to be able to depend on,” he said. “I just didn’t feel that that support was going to be there.”
Full support. Apparently, Parker expected full financial support of his campaign from the state party, as in the party finances his campaign without Parker lifting a finger to raise money on his own, a source confirms. That makes sense to me. A political neophyte may jump into a race without knowing what is expected of the candidate. The truth is, the state party, like its national counterparts in the DNC, the DSCC, and the DCCC, expects the candidate him or herself to show some signs of life before they commit. Signs of life include a credible, strong candidate who can raise money, a competitive race in the polls. I am unaware of any candidate, local, state, or federal, that has ever had his or her campaign completely financed by a party organization. Yet, it seems that that is what Parker was expecting.
Parker seems to see some conspiracy behind this fact, in his mentioning of factions and families of elected officials, which seems like a direct swipe at Polly Mervine and the Adams family. Parker obviously feels that Mervine and the Adams family or some party faction acting on their behalf are responsible for denying Parker campaign funds from the state party. Maybe there is some hurt feelings among them, but no conspiracy.
Regardless, Parker’s withdrawal reveals a division in the Sussex Democratic Party, a division that is unlikely to be healed any time soon.