LEAKED: DeFusco Poll RESULTS

Did you hear about a new phone poll going around Hoboken?  

A friend told GA, "I couldn't tell whose it was."  Which means the pollster wasn't trying to shove a candidate down our throats, but simply collecting data.

However, there was a phone poll which circulated about two weeks ago which was demonstrably a DeFusco poll.  But when when reporters asked the campaign for poll results, they denied having polled.

GA asked a DeFusco operative directly what the poll results were- no denial, but no answer either.

Now I see why. 

Political insiders from outside of Hoboken: West New York, Union City  and "North Hudson" are watching this race closely.  Very closely.  

And one of them sprang a leak to GA this morning! Yep, all about the poll results DeFusco's been hiding.  From my notes:

Swibinsky does a lot of polling. His first had Mike in a tie with Romano for 2nd and 3rd place, Giattino was a distant 4th.  The new poll- bad news for Mike, he lost ground to Romano. Now Romano's a strong second place. Giattino moved up too. Mike slipped back to a distant 3rd with Giattino breathing down his neck. She and Romano picked up Old Hoboken support from Mike. Both Romano and Giattino are taking from Mike, but Romano had the surge. He's gaining on Ravi but Ravi still has in the lead. Ravi's support is solid. It's holding. All the candidates except Mike gained since last poll. Mike is bleeding, in 3rd place but not for long if the trend continues.

It would seem that DeFusco's only avenue to electoral success appears to be: (1) stealing the election or (2) destroying the competition.

It appears (for now) that DeFusco has chosen option 2.

• Yesterday his campaign blasted out an ugly,  dishonest email called "Check the Facts."  The blast targets opponents Bhalla, Giattino and Romano.   
• Sources report that about one week ago (timed with their bad poll results) DeFusco's campaign retained private detectives to shadow Anthony Romano and his campaign manager Pablo Fonseca.  Sources report both are being watched/followed "everywhere"- presumably to  catch them in the act (on film) of some wrong doing.  Or who knows, even to "create" an incident. 

Watch your back, Ravi.  And Jen. 

Gross, right?

Had DeFusco chosen to run a decent, positive campaign, GA believes he would be competitive today. 

But he hasn't. He deserves to lose.

And he's losing support by  swinging at people who are liked.  We are a small city, folks know each other.  Because we may support a different candidate, it doesn't mean we don't like the others. And in running a scorched earth style campaign- the kind that tanked Beth Mason's 2009 mayoral prospects- every time DeFusco hits the guy or gal we know either as a neighbor or as a public servant, it turns us off.  

That is the simple fact. 

Even though GA is not backing Giattino, it is offensive that this idiot blames her for the City's growing SUEZ contingent liability. It is not Giattino's fault, nor the mayor's,  but the result of a piss-poor contract amendment approved by Ruben Ramos and Tony Soares in 2001.  Only a complete dishonest idiot would try to blame Giattino.  And so on.

Scorched-earth campaigning has been losing elections since 2009.  Hoboken's swelling population is educated, sophisticated and does not like negative campaigns.  

But, word is there is more mud in store for the Mile Square.  One month and a day of this to go.