Primaries all over the state for the GOP

by: Jason Springer

Tue Feb 16, 2010 at 10:45:00 AM EST

I do not think Leonard Lance can be beaten in a Republican Primary. Even if David Larsen won, he would be cut out in redistricting in 2012."

Then in the seats held by Democrats, there are a few primary races to run against the Incumbent. There are numerous candidate running in the 3rd district and Justin Murphy could also get support from the tea partiers as he runs again this year. There is also the primary to run against Rush Holt as Mike Halfacre and Scott Sipprelle will face off in a right v. further right battle and there may be more candidates to jump in the race. Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini and others have expressed interest in challenging to run against Frank Pallone as well. The tea partiers are even saying they may put someone up against Scott Garrett from the right, if that's possible in comments to stories that are being written. The amount of candidate running in GOP primaries can be seen as an indication of the enthusiasm and also anger out there with the public right now, who only want to see 8% of incumbent re-elected right now.

By contrast, the Democrats in New Jersey don't seem to like primaries as much. The only primary challenge I've seen so far is one against John Adler, but his warchest will make that an uphill climb. I know inside political circles they tend to shy away from primaries, because it makes you spend resources you want to conserve for the general election battle and take stands you often don't want to defend. But sometimes primaries can better prepare candidates for the trial by fire that is a general election campaign. Even if the GOP candidates don't win their primary challenges, the incumbents will already be in campaign mode given the voter angst right now. The competitive primaries to challenge Democratic incumbents will season them for the rigors of a race. With the climate  and public opinion where it is, it's important that candidates don't wait to start their campaigns and these primaries insure that the GOP won't.

DNC targets Lance and LoBiondo over opposition to healthcare

by: Jason Springer

Thu Nov 12, 2009 at 05:30:00 PM EST

Through this campaign, the DNC will send a message to Republicans who have reflexively said no to health insurance reform by urging them to do the right thing and support reform when it comes to the House again for a final vote.  The campaign will include press releases, Op-Eds and letters to the editor, local events and will leverage the energy and enthusiasm of the DNC's grassroots supporters and its email list in holding these members accountable for their vote.  The effort may also include paid advertising.  DNC National Press Secretary Hari Sevugan released the following statement on the effort:

"You would think a Member of Congress should think twice about voting against health insurance reform that their families and small businesses so desperately need and want.  But you have to think to vote against health insurance reform in a Congressional District won by President Obama just a year ago could be a political death knell at a time when Americans are clamoring for solutions to vexing issues like health care," said Sevugan.  "These members not only represent districts that voted for President Obama, but also where health insurance reform, as in the rest of the country, is badly needed and where passing it will be politically popular.  Some on the very far right wing would have people believe that voting for health insurance reform is a mistake politically - when the truth is that any Republican who votes against reform, especially those from districts won by the President, will undoubtedly place themselves in real political peril."

Asked about the DNC's targeting of LoBiondo, Galanes asked, "Are they targeting John Adler? ... Just curious."

2010 Campaign Against Lance Begins

by: vmars

Mon Sep 28, 2009 at 05:46:21 PM EDT

And so it begins.  We got our first robocall of the 2010 election against Leonard Lance (NJ7) today.  I'm not sure, nor do I really care, who Accountable America is, but they left a voice mail for me or my boyfriend today and here it is in it's full glory.

Hello, this is a message from Accountable America.  Why is the recession and increased unemployment dragging on?  We need to ask our Congressman Leonard Lance.  He voted against spending money to put America back to work.  Congressman Lance voted against extending unemployment benefits and lowering taxes for 95 percent of working Americans.  However, Congressman Lance did vote for executive bonuses for the same Wall Street Firms who took taxpayer bailout money .Call Congressman Leonard Lance and tell him we need to create jobs and to end this recession.  Tell him to stop protecting bonuses for the Wall Street Executives who caused this mess.

It'd be more effective with a phone number, but I guess they're just trying to drive negatives at this point.

Ain't politics grand?

Rahm selling out New Jersey voters?

by: Hopeful

Mon Jun 15, 2009 at 04:51:09 PM EDT

We hear he's turning to vulnerable Republicans and telling them he can get the DCCC to "go easy" on them next year if they vote for the Supplemental tomorrow. And Eric Cantor's office is really pissed.

It's one thing if he makes a deal with Vern Buchanan in Florida or Chris Smith in New Jersey, but we're hearing that he's offering to protect Republicans who have been slated as major DCCC targets, like Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), Bill Young (R-FL), Leonard Lance R-NJ) and Charlie Dent (R-PA).

This is not a deal to get universal health care passed, which I could certainly forgive. This is a deal to vote for A. The Iraq War, B. Bailing out European banks via the IMF, and C. Covering up abuse photos.  There's not much reason any Democrat should vote for it, much less make a deal to protect Leonard Lance.

Let's hope the rumor is not true, or the DCCC has the guts to tell Rahm he's not their boss.

New PVI's From Cook Report -- Three Reps Vulnerable

by: vmars

Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 02:57:30 PM EDT

According to the Cook Report we have three districts that are ripe for the out-party, two for the Rs and one for the Ds.  Every two years they put together a new analysis (find out the metrics elsewhere) of the Partisan Voting (PV) index of Congressional districts based on the last vote.

Last year the only ones that were close were NJ3 for John Adler, NJ2 for Frank Lobiondo, and NJ7 for Leonard Lance.  The rest are pretty much out of reach barring a live goat or a dead boy.

Here are the new rankings:

Frelinghuysen [NJ11] R+7
Garrett [NJ5] R+7
Smith [NJ4] R+6
Lance [NJ7] R+3
Adler [NJ3] R+1
LoBiondo [NJ2]        D+1
Holt [NJ12] D+5
Pallone [NJ6] D+8
Rothman [NJ9]        D+9
Pascrell [NJ8] D+10
Andrews [NJ1]        D+12
Sires [NJ13] D+21
Payne [NJ10] D+33

Leonard Lance Goes Hypocrite Again

by: vmars

Wed Apr 08, 2009 at 07:14:32 PM EDT

Leonard Lance is at it again, trying to garner stimulus funding and the credit associated with it even though he voted against it.  Heck, he went so far as to write an op-ed piece lambasting Obama and the Democrats for putting it together.

Then there's this:

In the letter written on Monday, Lance said he was concerned about the delay in delivering the funds for the "shovel-ready" project available in the stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed by Congress earlier this year and signed into law by Obama.

Congress passed it, yeah, but of the hundreds of Republicans in Congress only two voted for it.  And Lance wasn't one of them.

UPDATE: BTW, you can call Lance out on the hypocrisy the papers won't mention in the comments section of the MyCentralNJ article.   Just register and remind the reporters to get more than one view of the issue.

Lance doesn't like his Hypocrisy Hall of Fame Status

by: Jason Springer

Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 10:45:00 AM EST

You never heard Lance say this before the stimulus vote.  It would have gone against the GOP bosses position that stimulus spending was bad if Lance had suggested we should put the Green Brook Flood Control Project in the stimulus package.  And going against the bosses can be bad juju for a freshman Rep.

Further proof that this was a partisan effort to take credit for a bill he voted against, Lance toured the area solely with Republican Pilato -- former staffer for Mike Ferguson -- and none of the Democratic council members from Bound Brook.  

He didn't invite the Democratic Mayors of Green Brook, Manville or North Plainfield either, three towns that flooded massively in the 1973 storm that spawned the Green Brook Flood Control Project, flooded again in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd hit and gave new impetus to the effort.  Manville again flooded in 1997 when the Nor'Easter hit.

No, after voting in lockstep with his party against the Democrats in the House Lance blocks out Democrats from working with him in protecting their homes and businesses from flooding.

In the State Senate Lance had a reputation for bi-partisanship and working to solve problems without being a blind party follower.  In just a month as a member of Congress he's giving up that hard earned image to become another drone in the national Republican party.

Making an appearance at the special convention at the Clinton Township Middle School after attending the Union County Republican Convention today, Lance said he preferred a GOP alternative stimulus package proposed by Republican Whip U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Richmond) to what he saw ultimately as a bloated Democratic offering.

"I favored the Cantor package totaling $500 billion, which included money for shovel-ready projects," Lance told PolitickerNJ.com.  

Leonard Lance: Stimulus Hypocrite

by: vmars

Wed Feb 18, 2009 at 07:52:25 AM EST

He even wrote a piece defending his vote against the bill that was run in multiple papers, suggesting that it was a vote of honor rather than a vote of partisanship.

But now Lance is trying to have it both ways, touting his "principled" vote against spending while getting photo-ops for the papers hoping stimulus money will come to his district.

Under the terms of the stimulus plan signed into law Tuesday by President Barack Obama, infrastructure projects that are "shovel-ready" could be the first to be funded with economic recovery money.

That's the hope of Rep. Leonard Lance, R-Clinton Township, who toured the project's construction sites Tuesday morning with Mayor Carey Pilato, members of the Green Brook Flood Control Commission and representatives of the Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the project.

"This is a classic example of a "shovel-ready' project," Lance said after the tour.

You never heard Lance say this before the stimulus vote.  It would have gone against the GOP bosses position that stimulus spending was bad if Lance had suggested we should put the Green Brook Flood Control Project in the stimulus package.  And going against the bosses can be bad juju for a freshman Rep.

Further proof that this was a partisan effort to take credit for a bill he voted against, Lance toured the area solely with Republican Pilato -- former staffer for Mike Ferguson -- and none of the Democratic council members from Bound Brook.  

He didn't invite the Democratic Mayors of Green Brook, Manville or North Plainfield either, three towns that flooded massively in the 1973 storm that spawned the Green Brook Flood Control Project, flooded again in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd hit and gave new impetus to the effort.  Manville again flooded in 1997 when the Nor'Easter hit.

No, after voting in lockstep with his party against the Democrats in the House Lance blocks out Democrats from working with him in protecting their homes and businesses from flooding.

In the State Senate Lance had a reputation for bi-partisanship and working to solve problems without being a blind party follower.  In just a month as a member of Congress he's giving up that hard earned image to become another drone in the national Republican party.

UPDATE: Jay Lassiter shows us that Lance is using Facebook to pimp his wish for more stimulus dollars he voted against to come to NJ.  Sheesh.

DCCC still targeting Leonard Lance

by: Hopeful

Mon Feb 09, 2009 at 01:57:17 PM EST

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), chaired by Congressman Chris Van Hollen, today announced the DCCC is launching the second phase of the Putting Families First campaign on the economic recovery bill by running automated calls in seven targeted Republican freshman districts.  The calls focus on the Republicans' out of step priorities by putting partisan politics before the needs of the jobs in their districts.

Naturally, Leonard Lance (NJ7) is one of the targets of the calls, which go something like this:

Did you know Congressman Leonard Lance voted against economic recovery that would immediately create and save nearly 106,000 New Jersey jobs?

Yes, he did not merely vote to do nothing in a crisis, as I would put it, but against recovery itself.   Come to think of it, it's probably true.

Let me know what you think of the DCCC calls. Are they an important step, a waste of time, or are you just bitter that the calls would have done more good in 2006?

DCCC Targets Lance for the first time

by: Rosi Efthim

Mon Feb 02, 2009 at 11:50:35 AM EST

Radio ads targeting 28 Republican congressmen - including freshman Leonard Lance - hit the airwaves tomorrow morning, courtesy of Rep. Chris Van Hollen and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The ads call out some of vulnerable representatives who voted against President Obama's economic recovery plan, which got zero votes from House Republicans but passed anyway - 244 to 188. Credit the House's Democratic majority for that.

Lance's vote - siding with his party in a big, splashy show of unity against more responsible efforts to solve the country's problems - could absolutely have been predicted. And it's a damned shame that the same DCCC didn't see that coming and help Linda Stender drive the point home that Lance was likely to vote with the GOP against forward movement, which he now has. But I digress...

The published text of the ads is rough stuff, calling out the congressmen by name on stations that serve their Districts, and accusing each of prioritizing things DCCC thinks will resonate with voters, over needed components in the economic recovery plan.  Choosing to bail out banks but opposing tax breaks for the bulk of American voters. Backing expenditures for new schools in Iraq, but failing to support the plan's spending on schools at home. Benefitting themselves from healthcare at taxpayers' expense, while children go uninsured. The ad targetting Lance and 9 of his colleagues is about job creation:

Did you know Congressman [Leonard Lance] voted against economic recovery to immediately create and save over [insert number here] [New Jersey] jobs? Times are tough, tell [Leonard Lance] to put families before politics.

Lance and Adler go On the Record

by: Jason Springer

Sun Jan 04, 2009 at 09:48:15 AM EST

Adler and Lance will join their colleagues to be sworn in this Tuesday, January 6th.  If you are planning to attend the festivities, please consider posting some of your pictures and stories.

How Linda Stender Lost

by: Blue Jersey

Mon Nov 10, 2008 at 11:23:23 AM EST

This has been a four year effort for many of us, starting before Linda even decided to run in 2006.  It is hard for some of us because we know Linda personally and like her very much, and worked so hard and invested so much in getting her to the finish line.

In 2006 we came within 1.5 percent of the vote against a three term Republican named Mike Ferguson.  It was a stunningly unexpected effort that shocked the national party which gave secondary support to the campaign while dumping millions in others where the margin was seven points or more.

In 2008 Linda lost by a little less than nine percent, a stunning defeat in a race where we saw polls putting Stender even or just behind State Senator Leonard Lance in the days before the election.  It was made all the more stunning in that 2008 was a better year for Democrats than 2006, yet the Stender campaign fell far behinds its previous result.

How could that happen?  Lance didn't run a great campaign.  Stender had lots more money.  The DCCC dropped over a million dollars into the district, while the NRCC walked away and focused on NJ3.  Registration for Democrats jumped dramatically.  And then there was that guy running for President who brought Democratic turnout to amazing levels.  The environment couldn't have been better.

But she lost anyway.

Because, as near as we can tell, they forgot all the lessons of 2006 that got them close.  Instead of building on the energy and volunteers from the previous election they brought in an entirely new team from outside the district, ignored the organizations like Democracy for America that supported Stender in 2006, and blew off local expertise in favor of a cookie-cutter campaign.

What to do in Republican Counties

by: Rszuch

Fri Nov 07, 2008 at 06:27:15 PM EST

In Republican Counties (see useful table below the fold to see where your county sits in the rank), I think there has been too much focus on county-wide, Legislative, and Congressional campaigns.  These county and regional campaigns just don't seem to be winable...not yet.  I feel that the focus should be on municipal success.  We need to build strong Democratic Municipal Committees (DMCs).  Strong DMCs can do grassroots education to make voters understand the importance of local, county, and congressional government positions.  And a strong DMC is vital for building the resumes and experience of candidates at the higher levels.  We need to crawl before we can walk.

Results Thread!!!!

by: Adam L a/k/a clammyc

Tue Nov 04, 2008 at 07:37:05 PM EST

UPDATE: Stender concedes in NJ7.

I will be heading over to the Shulman victory party in a bit, and am also live blogging the NJ-3, NJ-5 and NJ-7 results at Daily Kos, but consider this the live results thread.

Polls obviously close at 8PM, and we will post results as we get them in.  There are other Blue Jersey front pagers who are at the Adler and Stender camps, so hopefully they will be checking in as well (and feel free to edit this with any info that comes in as well).

I spent the day canvassing in Glen Rock after voting at 7AM, and it was bee-you-tee-ful outside.

How was your day?

OK--so there isn't now is wireless here, and I am plugged in, so the updates may not be as quick as I would like.   Other front pagers - please add what you can if you can.

Here is link to the NJ results for all races.

************

UPDATE:  NJ called for Obama!!

UPDATE:  MSNBC calls it for Lautenberg.  Let's guess if he wins by more than 20%.

UPDATE (NJ-3):  With 58% reporting, Adler has cut into Myers' lead, which is now 53% - 47%.  Adler wins, Myers concedes.  NJ delegation now 8-5.

UPDATE (NJ-5): It doesn't look good for Dennis.  With 89% of Bergen reporting and none from Sussex, Garrett is up by 6% in Bergen and by 10% overall.  Race called for Garrett.  Dennis now giving concession speech - but it is a helluva speech.  I am very proud to have been involved with this campaign and a shout out to Dennis and Jeff Hauser for all they did and stood for.

UPDATE (NJ-7):  With 52% 63% in, it is still 52-41%, Lance leading.  Word from local campaign offices (not Stender's, but other campaigns) is that things are not looking good.

4 Year Old Kendy Rudy Voted For Obama Today

by: nathanrudy

Tue Nov 04, 2008 at 01:25:33 PM EST

My daughter was born on July 2, 2004.  I was running for Somerset County Freeholder that year on a ticket with John Kerry and John Edwards for President and the first election after her birth was on November 2, 2004 -- her four month birthday.  We took a picture or two to commemorate.  The first is her at the polling location in North Plainfield, NJ and the other is Kendy in a Rudy for Freeholder onesie and her beautiful mother Maureen at the staging place for our GOTV effort.

That night we lost.  I knew I was going to lose, but I thought John Kerry would be my next President.  Instead Bush won, and my daughter had to spend the first four years of her life living under that ... man.

Washington Post on NJ heading into Election Day

by: Jason Springer

Mon Nov 03, 2008 at 10:28:45 PM EST

Obama should win with little difficulty in this reliably Democratic state, but two House seats are tossups, and a third is a potential upset. In the 3rd District, GOP Rep. H. James Saxton is retiring after 12 terms, but Democratic challenger John Adler, a state senator from Cherry Hill, has strong party backing and has assembled one of the best field organizations in the country against Chris Myers, a Lockheed Martin executive and Republican mayor of Medford.

The 7th District, also a GOP-created vacancy, had been viewed as friendlier to Republicans, but Democratic state legislator Linda Stender has proven a tough competitor against state Sen. Leonard Lance. Republicans are less worried about, but still distracted by, the 5th District race, featuring Dennis Shulman, a blind rabbi endorsed by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I), against GOP Rep. Scott Garrett. Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg is expected to win easily over former congressman Dick Zimmer.

Prediction Thread!

by: huntsu

Mon Nov 03, 2008 at 09:27:58 PM EST

PRESIDENT:
Obama:    %
McCain:    %

US SENATE:
Lautenberg:    %
Zimmer:    %

NJ3
Adler:   %
Meyers:   %

NJ4
Zeitz:   %
Smith:   %

NJ5
Shulman:   %
Garrett:   %

NJ7
Stender:   %
Lance:    %

Bill Clinton Just Called Me

by: huntsu

Mon Nov 03, 2008 at 06:32:10 PM EST

I knew Blue Jersey front-paging would get me a lot of love, but this is ridiculous!

Stender events for Monday

by: Hopeful

Sun Nov 02, 2008 at 11:21:12 PM EST

"My Guess Is They Win Only One"

by: huntsu

Fri Oct 31, 2008 at 09:50:49 PM EDT

The Garden State is starting to act like its old self again.  Even in a good Republican year, the state leans Democratic and that seems to be the case again. In another year, I could make the case that Republicans would have a shot at knocking off Sen. Frank Lautenberg, but not this year. Down the ballot, the Democrats are trying to pick off two House seats. If they win them both (my guess is they only win one), it'll leave the Republicans with just three of the state's 10 House districts, a real low point for a once proud state Republican Party.

Todd thinks Democrats are only trying to pick off two House seats, when many of us are looking at three.  True, we have our concerns and questions about some of the campaigns and the DCCC, but we are all still hopeful that we will pick up all three seats.

There are a lot of people in New Jersey, Democrats in New Jersey, who are invested in all three campaigns.  We've donated time, we've donated money, we've donated promotion, we've donated heart.  

In short, folks here at Blue Jersey and in New Jersey have fought hard for these races.  And folks like Chuck Todd should stop pretending that the national and state parties are "Democrats".  "Democrats" is far bigger than the operational structures, and the Democrats are fighting for three seats.