Incumbents sweep New Jersey Congressional  Primaries (NY Times)

N.J. congressional incumbents win primary elections despite tea party-backed challenges (Star Ledger)

GOP incumbents in New Jersey Beat Back Tea-Party Challenges (Wall Street Journal)

The real question here is why is the impact of the Tea Parties so much stronger away from New Jersey?  I suspect it has more to do with the feelings of the voter’s belief in other places that they can actually effect change.  And since primary day in New Jersey is really all about parties and the games has always been wired there, most people just didn’t pay attention. 

I read a blog comment earlier that the reason NJ was unaffected by the “tea party” surge experienced by other states is that our citizens are so much more educated unlike their “stupid redneck uneducated brethren in the south”.  Not sure how this jibe with California and Nevada but let’s go with it.

If New Jersey voters are so smart, why do they routinely accept corrupt machine politicians as status quo and almost NEVER hold them accountable.  If they are so smart, why do they accept that government employee unions literally control Trenton, from candidate funding in the assembly and senate to their local school board.  And why would a really smart person fall for one of the dumbest talking points of all time: Tax the rich guy because he has too much and he can pay for the state’s problems instead of me (This same ‘smart’ person of course has seen their property taxes go up 100 percent in the past 5 years and their gross state tax burden increase by at least a third since Bush was elected).

That’s not smart.  That’s stupid.  And when this  same person bemoans the lack of real choice in November here while spirited competition is running red hot in California, Nevada, Florida, South Carolina and many other states, remind them how smart they were on a day in June.