Mike Doherty (R-Warren County)

After losing election after election, the New Jersey GOP might be excused for finding alternative candidates for statewide elections, but the positions of their latest candidate du jour, Mike Doherty (R-Warren County), may completely surprise you. First, let's be clear about what's been happening with the less-than-impressive state Republican Party, which has been in disarray and lacking competitive funding for the November assembly and senate elections.

The state GOP is now in a push-and-pull between the radical conservative branches of its electorate and that of the moderate side. After Forrester and Kean Jr. lost elections as moderates, the radical branch, with the same ideological thrust of fundamentalist conservatives who have taken over the national party, are now foaming at the mouth for a radical right-wing Republican to go against Sen. Frank Lautenberg in the 2008 senate election.

They found their willing participant in far right conservative Assemblyman Mike Doherty, who has received 100% ratings from anti-abortion group New Jersey Right to Life and from the NRA.

http://www.bluejersey.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4612

Friends, as a Southerner, I have encountered some radical rightwingers in my life, but Doherty is on the level of Rick Santorum and Jim Inhofe in terms of his anti-minority and destructive policy agendas.