MOORESTOWN - U.S Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) received the Veterans of Foreign Wars PAC endorsement this afternoon in his 3rd District race against Republican challenger Jon Runyan.

Excoriated by progessive Democrats for voting against healthcare reform, the freshman congressman burished the vets' endorsement as a hard fought victory for districtwide respect in the battleground 3rd, home to 66,000 veterans and Joint Base McGuire-Dix.

"I am grateful for the VFW support," said Adler, standing with VFW brass at Memorial Park in Moorsetown. "I am enormously gratified and I recognize its political significance."

The vets took a dig at former Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Runyan while boosting the lawyerly Adler.

"If we were looking for an offensive tackle, we might not look at John," said Michael Wysong, treasurer of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. Political Action Committee. "But we will look to John to continue to serve the needs of veterans."

Wysong said the PAC would contribute money to the Adler campaign but refused to say how much.

The congressman took particular note of the fact that the VFW did not endorse in the 2008 election, when Adler ran against Navy veteran Chris Myers. 

Adler Campaign Manager Geoff Mackler said just five of the 172 candidates in 2008 who received the VFW-PAC endorsement failed to win.

Chris Russell, campaign consultant for the Runyan campaign, released a statement shortly after the VFW-PAC endorsement of Adler.