SPECIAL SENATE ELECTION - CLOUD OF CANDIDATES

I wonder if others of you were as surprised as I to see how many candidates there really are for the Senate seat up for grabs in Wednesday's costly special election.

All through the (thankfully shortened) election season it has been Booker this and Lonegan that, with nary a mention of the SIX other souls who also want the job.  Now, of course, I could understand why there would be little coverage, since politics is driven only by money, and these fellows clearly do not have their own deep pockets.  But there hasn't been any word that I've heard at all.  In a search tonight I found ONE story referenced online, dated from months ago:

Dumont man among 6 to file for N.J. Senate run as third-party candidates
Tuesday August 13, 2013, 8:48 PM
BY  ANTHONY CAMPISI
STATE HOUSE BUREAU
The Record

A Dumont man is one of six people who filed to run as third-party candidates in the race to fill the U.S. Senate seat of the late Frank Lautenberg, according to state elections filings released Tuesday.

Stuart D. Meissner, an investor and New York attorney, has pledged on his campaign website to work to “stop the backroom deals and influence peddling” in Washington and criticized federal regulators for failing to bring criminal charges against former Gov. Jon Corzine for his role in the bankruptcy of the MF Global brokerage firm.
He will be joined by Robert DePasquale of Butler, Eugene Martin Lavergne of West Long Branch, Pablo Olivera of Newark, Antonio Nico Sabas of Irvington, and Edward C. Stackhouse Jr. of Hamilton Township, Mercer County.
Secretary of State Kim Guadagno, the state’s top elections official, must certify their nominating petitions before their names can be put on the ballot.
DePasquale appears to be running on an anti-immigrant platform, filing official slogans that include: No Amnesty Period, American Citizens First and Jobs for Americans.
Sabas has unsuccessfully run for mayor of Irvington before and Stackhouse, in a YouTube video, said that he wants to represent working class New Jerseyans in the Senate.

Email: campisi@northjersey.com

One wonders why these men embarked on such obviously quixotic quests, since it meant spending many thousands of dollars just to get listed on the ballot (the FEC fees alone run nearly $5,000). 

Two of these fellows have campaign websites:

http://meissner2013.com/
http://depasqualeforsenate.com/

The other four must be relying on Facebook or LinkedIn pages.  They are listed on something called Ballotpedia, which I've never before heard of.  But these listings have no bios posted by the candidates.  Perhaps they are as unfamiliar with Ballotpedia as am I.

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Eugene_Lavergne

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Pablo_Olivera
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Antonio_Sabas
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Edward_Stackhouse,_Jr.

Anyway, remember to vote Wednesday!