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Fulop survives and prospers despite Healy’s near sweepBy Matt Friedman, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter (May 19,2009) There was one exception to the overwhelming victory of Mayor Jerramiah Healy and his slate in Jersey City last Tuesday. For all but one council seat, candidates from Team Healy either won outright or were the top vote getters but still have to face a runoff next month. Only in Ward E did Healy’s candidate suffer a blow. With 63% of the vote, independent incumbent Councilman Steve Fulop, who has spent most of the last four years at odds with Healy, won reelection with a larger plurality than any other candidate in the city – including the Mayor himself. Some Fulop supporters are already talking about Fulop running for mayor in 2013 as if it’s a done deal. Fulop, of course, won’t make that commitment yet, but he noted that he will be starting off his next term in a good position. “We will grow from here,” he said during a conversation over Instant Messenger, adding that he has $175,000 left in his campaign coffers – about half of the total he raised for this election cycle. But Politifax editor Nick Acocella, who lives in Hoboken and is well-versed in Hudson County politics, noted Jersey City’s notorious political unpredictability. “Trying to figure out what’s going to happen in Jersey City in 2013 is less productive than trying to predict the stock market four years out,” he said. Fulop’s own case demonstrates that. Four years ago, he was a 28-year-old with no organization backing and political experience only as a kamikaze congressional candidate against Bob Menendez in 2004. But he managed to upset the machine-backed Junior Maldonado to win his seat. This time, he was favored to win, though not with such a lopsided total, and not in all but one of his ward’s voting districts. |
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