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Frank Conrad has left the First District Assembly race, and John McCann - an Ocean City real estate agent and politician - is poised to replace him alongside Mike Donohue on the Republican ticket, Donohue said Sunday.

Party leaders in the area learned of Conrad's decision at week's end. The Upper Township committeeman cited a need to concentrate on pulling his small highway-safety-equipment business through the recession.

Donohue called McCann on Friday, asking him to join the ticket, McCann said; he consulted friends and family and accepted Saturday.

"I'm jumping right into the frying pan. Frank was doing a good job, and my goal is that there's no change between what Frank was doing and what I'm going to do," said McCann, Ocean City's Republican chairman. He now embarks on his second bid for elected office, after a run for Cape May County freeholder in 2000.

Neither Conrad nor the two Democratic candidates, incumbent Assemblymen Nelson Albano and Matt Milam, both Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, returned calls for comment Sunday evening.

Conrad announced his candidacy Feb. 21. Donohue acknowledged his disappointment at his running mate's decision to depart, saying the two men had spoken earlier in the campaign about how to accommodate Conrad's business obligations without him needing to drop out of the race.

"I'm sure it wasn't sudden for him. I'm sure he spent a lot of time talking with his family," Donohue said. "These things have happened before, I think we're going to be fine. I think we're going to roll pretty seamlessly from Frank into John McCann."

Party leaders in Cumberland and Atlantic counties have already formally endorsed the ticket change, McCann said. Cape May County Republicans will discuss the issue Wednesday. All 21 counties have to approve the change for it to be official.

McCann said he had considered running in the primary, "but when I realized Frank was interested, I was happy, so I didn't even put my name publicly in there."

A news release from Donohue quotes Conrad as saying: "John McCann is a proven leader, a guy who, like me, knows what it takes to actually create jobs and meet a payroll. He'll provide the kind of small-business perspective we need more of in Trenton. I strongly endorse his candidacy to replace me on the ticket."

McCann, Ocean City's Republican chairman, has been directing gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie's campaign in Cape May County.

E-mail Eric Scott Campbell:

ECampbell@pressofac.com

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