Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now let's talk more about that debate in New Jersey. Wow,
wasn't expecting that. Let's find out if doctor Benjamin Dwerkin,
founding director of the Rowan Institute for Public Policy and
Citizenship at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey, was expecting that.
(00:20):
I can't see how you would be, Benjamin. That was
that was something that was a Mikey Cheryl we haven't
seen yet.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
It was really interesting. Good morning, Arry, Good morning for
having me. Gosh, sure, yeah, Look, last night's debate between
the Democrat Congresswoman Mikey Cheryl the Republican Jack Cheddarelli, former
state assemblyman, had a lot of fireworks. But here's my prediction.
It will not make a difference. The people who watch
(00:52):
these debates aren't convinced they know who they're voting for.
It's simply there's just an Unless you have a major
implosion like Joe Biden did a year or so ago
in his first debate with Donald Trump, unless you completely collapse,
that's when it debate makes a difference. And without that,
(01:15):
these two they each had some good punches, there were
some fireworks, and you know, largely it's a draw. This
election is going to come down to turn out and
who can rally the forces on their side more effectively.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I thought what was most interesting about it was Mikey
Cheryl because probably like you, I've met her over the years,
I've interviewed her over the years, and I've always kind
of liked her. That wasn't her. That was different than
what we've seen from Mikey Cheryl, and it led me
to believe that their internal polling shows she might be
in trouble, that she had to show some strength, she
(01:55):
had to go after him because she was aggressive at
accusing him of killing tens of thousands of people.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
What do you think, Oh, look, I think every candidate
gets the same advice for going into a debate. Smile
and attack. That's what you need to do in a debate. Uh.
So both these people, both Jack Cenarelli and Mikey Cheryl,
are very nice people personally. They're they're they're kind, they're interesting,
(02:23):
they're legitimate, they're certainly both qualified to be governor. But
what we saw last night was a different venue. Uh
And this was the last chance that anybody was going
to get to see them, uh for you know, side
by side. So this was the opportunity to smile an attack,
and I think she did it. We sometimes don't expect it.
(02:48):
Sometimes there are certain folks who don't expect to hear
that from a female candidate. There are certain there are
other folks just because she's a rookie at this. You know,
Jack Chendarelli has been running for governor for ten years.
He's a very sharp and smooth politician because he's so
experienced at running statewide. This is Mikey Cheryl's first time
(03:12):
running statewide, and she's had a steep learning curve. But
it's no longer the beginning of the season. We're now
into the you know, the playoff race here, and she
came out swinging. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
It wasn't only because she's a woman, and it's not
only because of it's a debate. It's the last important debate.
I have seen her on the campaign trail. I saw
her in the last debate for the New Jersey Globe.
I have talked to her, I've seen her on the
campaign trail. This was a different person. I've never seen
this from her before, and that's what surprised me. And
(03:47):
you have to you know, the polls very early on
had her up if you believe them, by twenty points,
and then it went to nine points, and then it
went to time. Yeah, and so it's definitely seems like
it's going towards Jack Chittarelli, and I think she had
to do something big, and.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
You're probably right in that. I mean, look, the last
time you and I got a chance to speak, Larry,
and again I appreciate this another opportunity to talk to
you about this, we said, you know, this is going
to be a tight race. This is a very competitive seat.
A lot of people have this perception of New Jersey
of just being a very democratic, very blue state, and
(04:29):
in for US Senate races, for presidential races, you can
make that argument, but when it comes to running for
when on New Jerseyan's vote for governor, it's a very
very purple state. Can go either way. We have an
open seat, and both sides think they have a very
legitimate chance to win, and so things are going to
(04:51):
get rough over these last few weeks.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Yeah, it's funny. I talked to Mike Kelly from North
Jersey dot Com we have him on every week, and said,
from the beginning, even when even when it showed that
Michael Cheryl was up twenty points. She said, this is
he said, this is Jack Chittarelli's to lose. Do you
agree with that.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
I don't know whether it's Jack Terilly's to lose. I mean,
if if it was, we would see public polling that
showed him ahead, but it hasn't. What we've seen is
just a very close race. Cheddarelli has run a very
effective campaign, which is why his numbers have gone up,
(05:32):
and we are now in the final People have been
voting by mail for a couple of weeks already, so
this election is already on. We're in the middle of
election season. We're gonna head towards the final ten days
when people could vote in person at certain locations in
their county, and then we'll obviously have whoever is left.
(05:57):
Everyone's gonna try and get them to come to the
hold on election day itself. This was always going to
be a close race. Democrats think that there's going to
be a backlash against Donald Trump. They think that their
candidate is qualified and attractive and engage in engaging and
(06:18):
interesting and intriguing to the voters, all the things that
you want when you're trying to pitch at Canady and
they think they have the best ideas and Republicans think
the exact thing thing, and they're excited. They've been doing
better in some races, but they haven't won, but they
think this is the one. Republicans in New Jersey think
this is the race where they're gonna be able to
(06:40):
push Jack Chenarelli over the top. It's going to be close,
it's gonna this is the kind of race that could
be decided by a few thousand votes one way or
the other, or even just a couple percentage points. So
everybody is out there, everyone's trying to avoid making this
stakes on both sides, and you'll see these kinds of
(07:06):
punches thrown, whether it's in a debate or whether it's
going to be on the campaign traip.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
And in the ads that are coming out. They're going
to be flooding the TV in the next couple of weeks.
Doctor Benjamin Juworkin, founding director of the Rowan Institute for
Public Policy and Citizenship at Rowan University at Glassborough, New Jersey.
We'll have you back soon.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Thanks, look forward to it. Larry. Thanks