Bucco won despite being heavily outspent in both races[citation needed], and was the only Republican to defeat an incumbent Democratic State Senator in New Jersey from 1991 to 2007.
[13] As the Vice-President of Political Communications in 1998 for Campbell & Pusateri, a national Republican consulting firm in Alexandria, Virginia, DuHaime designed paid media and mail strategies for races throughout the country, the most noteworthy of which was the open seat congressional race in Pennsylvania's 10th District, where Democrats outnumbered Republicans.
DuHaime's client, the businessman Don Sherwood, assembled "a grassroots organization of 1,800 volunteers and propounding an agenda that combined small business to cut taxes" (Almanac of American Politics 2000) and won an eight-candidate field in the Republican primary with 43% of the vote.
In 1999, DuHaime returned to New Jersey to work in the District Office of Rep. Bob Franks, a former Republican State Chairman who was in his fourth term in the U.S. House.
[citation needed] He also served as Executive Director of New Jersey's New Century, a political action committee chaired by Congressman Franks.
Senator Frank R. Lautenberg retired after three terms, and Republican Governor Christine Todd Whitman was running to succeed him.
But in September 1999, Whitman unexpectedly dropped out of the race, and four candidates, including Bob Franks, sought the Republican Senate nomination.
Franks won the Republican nomination after an intensive grassroots campaign directed by DuHaime, that included several stunning upsets in pre-primary conventions for the endorsements of county organizations.
In the general election, Franks lost narrowly to Democrat Jon Corzine, who spent more than $70 million to win a U.S. Senate seat.
[15] DuHaime served as Political Director of the Republican National Committee from January 2005 to December 2006, where he became known for his ability to organize on the grassroots level effectively.
[16] As a Regional Political Director for Bush-Cheney presidential campaign in 2004, DuHaime helped develop the national "get out the vote" and Election Day efforts and directed the day-to-day campaign operations in 11 northeastern states, which yielded millions more votes for the President[citation needed] in the region and kept John Kerry tied up in his Northeastern base.