DICK ZIMMER

Just 6% of New Jersey voters are closely following the race for U.S. Senate between Frank Lautenberg and Dick Zimmer: Getty Images Photo
A new  Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll has U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg leading GOP challenger Dick Zimmer 46%-36% -- the latest in a series of polls that show the four-term Democrat with a double digit lead.  The poll shows that just 45% of voters are showing interest in the Senate race, and just 6% are following it closely.  83% of New Jersey voters have a lot of interest in the race for President.

Debates were the cornerstone of Rob Andrews' Senate campaign, but he's not running for the Senate now
Those who followed the Democratic U.S. Senate primary heard it again and again: U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews complaining that incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg wouldn’t engage him in enough debates.

He got two – both shortly before election day. 

Now, Republican Senate candidate Dick Zimmer is sounding a similar theme, complaining that Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) won’t live up to the standard he set in 1982, when he wanted to debate Republican rival Millicent Fenwick in all 21 counties.

But don’t expect Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) to back up Zimmer on this one. 

“The Congressman supports Senator Lautenberg and has no further comment on the campaign,” said Andrews Chief of Staff Bill Caruso.

Jon Corzine's approval ratings in an August Quinnipiac poll were upside-down: Getty Images Photo
Quinnipiac University will release results of a new poll tomorrow with head to head numbers in the race for U.S. Senate, and Gov. Jon Corzine's approval rating.  

Last month, Corzine's approvals were upside-down, 42%-48%, and he was in a statistical dead heat with U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie in a 2009 gubernatorial poll.  In the Senate race, Quinnipiac had Democratic incumbent Frank Lautenberg with a seven point lead, 48%-41%, over Republican Dick Zimmer.  Independent polls over the last week from The Record, Marist College, and Fairleigh Dickinson University have shown Lautenberg with double-digit leads in his bid for re-election to a fifth term.

 Both employing the language of change, U.S. U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park): Politicker file photoSen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) and his Republican rival, former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer, today issued finger-pointing statements in response to investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and Merrill Lynch & Co. agreeing to be acquired by Bank of America..

Zimmer in part blamed Lautenberg for the crisis, while Lautenberg blamed President George W. Bush.

"For 24 years, Senator Lautenberg has been sitting idly by as New Jersey taxpayers have faced an energy crisis, an affordability crisis and now a financial crisis," Zimmer said in part of his statement. "His policies of high taxes, corporate welfare and pork-barrel spending are hurting New Jersey taxpayers.

"It’s time for a change," added the Republican senate candidate. "I have a strong record of putting taxpayers first and advocating for fiscal responsibility. As your senator, I will work to bring transparency and accountability to Wall Street and Washington so we can work to avoid these economic difficulties in the future."

With less than two months to go until the election, no debate dates have been set between Sen. Frank Lautenberg and his challenger, former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer.

“There’s a deafening silence on the other end, which seems to be the pattern of the Lautenberg campaign,” said Randy Mastro, a former New York City Deputy Mayor and Assistant U.S. Attorney under Rudy Giuliani who was brought onto the Zimmer campaign as a special counsel to facilitate debates between Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) and Zimmer. “It’s hard to understand why Frank Lautenberg doesn’t want to debate the issues of importance to New Jersey voters with Dick Zimmer.”

The day after a relatively narrow victory in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, Zimmer held a news conference in Trenton challenging Lautenberg to a series of debates, bringing up Lautenberg’s quest in his first Senate campaign in 1982 to debate Republican opponent U.S. Rep. Millicent Fenwick “morning, noon and night.”

Republican Dick Zimmer trails U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg by 8 points in a new poll for The Record
A poll released today by the Bergen Record shows incumbent Sen. Fran Lautenberg with an eight point lead over his challenger, former Rep. Dick Zimmer, while a hypothetical head-to-head 2009 gubernatorial match-up between Gov. Jon Corzine and U.S. Attorney Chris Christie is in a statistical dead heat.

Lautenberg is still one point short of that important 50% support mark, leading Zimmer 49% to 41%, although 51% of respondents felt that the 84-year-old Lautenberg was too old to serve another term. Lautenberg and Zimmer are nearly tied among men, though Lautenberg holds a 15% advantage with women.

Meanwhile, Gov. Corzine holds a two point lead against Christie – 43% to 41%.  That’s well within the poll’s plus or minus 4% margin of error.  When put up against Princeton biotech executive John Crowley, who’s said to be mulling a gubernatorial run, Corzine gets 48% to Crowley’s 24%, which according to columnist Herb Jackson is” a possible sign that Christie’s support is based on more than just anti-Corzine sentiment.”

Democrat Frank Lautenberg has an 11 point lead over Republican Dick Zimmer in his bid for a fifth term in the United States Senate and has passed the magic 50% mark, according to a new Marist College Institute for Public Opinion poll released tonight.  Among likely voters and including leaners, Lautenberg is ahead 51%-40%.

Lautenberg also had an 11 point lead, 46%-35%, in a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released two days ago.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama: Getty Images Photo
Evidence of John McCain’s convention bounce might have turned up in New Jersey, but that momentum hasn’t translated to former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer’s U.S. Senate campaign. 

According to a Fairleigh Dickinson PublicMind poll released today, incumbent Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) leads Zimmer 46% to 35%. 

That’s roughly the same margin that Zimmer has trailed Lautenberg by in several other polls taken during the summer. 

“All of the attention has been on the national race,” said FDU pollster Peter Woolley.  “And both of the state’s U.S. Senate candidates have been off-stage in this year’s presidential drama.”

Welcome to September, when polls start showing New Jersey in play.  A new Fairleigh Dickinson University survey shows Barack Obama with a six point lead, 47%-41% -- down from the double-digit lead he enjoyed this summer over John McCain.  This is almost a New Jersey tradition: polls show Republican statewide candidates to be competitive in September and part of October, only to lose the state in November.