Dennis Shulman, the inspiring blind doctor and rabbi who is seeking to unseat Republican incumbent Scott Garrett in NJ-5, has just secured the endorsement of Paul Aronsohn, who ran and lost to Garrett on the Democratic ticket two years ago.
With this crucial endorsement, in addition to raising nearly $200,000 in 2007, Shulman has established his bona fides and is increasingly looking like the Democratic candidate to beat in this district that finally has a real chance to swing blue.
In other NJ-5 news, Steve Goldstein, the Garden State Equality chair and another supporter of Shulman, found just the rights words to capture the uniqueness and potential of Shulman’s campaign when he commented:
“The only prayer of winning [in Nj-5, which is a predominantly Republican district] is to throw a Hail Mary pass – or I should say, a Hail Moses pass – by nominating a Dennis Shulman who has one of the most compelling life stories imaginable. His kind of life story comes once in a blue moon among candidates and has the potential to capture the imagination of this Republican district and transcend party lines.”
As a Shulman supporter myself, I couldn’t agree more with Goldstein’s assessment. Shulman really is a “blue moon” kind of candidate who possesses that rare ability to deeply and authentically connect with and inspire voters, regardless of party affiliation.
To plf515 who is supporting Camille Abate in this race. As I noted in the comments, Abate’s negative primary campaign really took the wind out of Paul Aronsohn’s campaign. It seems to consist of knocking her opponents as insiders, not real progressives, and making slimy inuendos. I met paul Aronsohn and liked him. I got bad vibes from the Abate supporters on Blue Jersey.
Garrett has dropped in every race (61% to 58% to 55%) and a stong push will oust him. Winning against the typical Jersey moderate in this district would be impossible. Winning against Garrett (the Barbara Cubin of NJ) is possible.
Go get em, Dennis.
I heart Shulman! $200k already? Wow, a lot of campaigns don’t have nearly that much July! I think $200,000 is really amazing for an outsider candidate like Shulman. Thanks for the update – I look forward to hearing more good news from that district.