Kate Whitman

State Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon) in Flemington.

FLEMINGTON - Ask a Bush-era Republican to name an American statesman he admires and more times than not he will invoke Ronald Reagan. But State Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon) invariably gives a different answer to the question.

"I have self-identified with Dwight Eisenhower as an ideal to which I will strive," says the 7th Congressional District candidate. "Dwight Eisenhower brought people together. He was a uniter not a divider, who strongly believed in balancing the federal budget and not robbing our children and our grandchildren of their future."

The Eisenhower model has particular relevance now, according to Lance, who calls fiscal responsibility the transcendent home-front issue as America stares at a $10 trillion debt. The state senator further praises Eisenhower for extracting American forces from Korea when he did, and for not involving the country in other foreign wars, unlike his successors.

Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks 

SCOTCH PLAINS - There sits Mayor Martin Marks at his desk in Town Hall and he doesn’t look as ruffled as he might.

It’s not that he isn’t in a fight, or unwilling to start a scrap in the lulls that are fewer and fewer now with 14 days to go in this 7th Congressional District Republican Primary. Indeed, the self-described "across the board conservative Republican" seizes every opportunity to bash the record of presumptive frontrunner state Sen. Leonard Lance.

"Nice guy, a gentleman," admits Marks. "But people like Leonard Lance play fast and loose with the term conservative. A moderate? All right. But not conservative. He’s pro choice. And he’s going around bragging that he’s gotten the endorsement of the Sierra Club. That’s not conservative."

Kate Whitman 

BRANCHBURG - Next door to the pizza parlor where Kate Whitman pauses before working the backroom of local Republicans two weeks before Election Day stands a Cryan’s Ale House.

Someone throws the name of the tavern owned by the family of State Democratic Party Chairman Joseph Cryan in her direction, and the 31-year old daughter of former Gov. Christie Todd Whitman smiles with recognition.

"I grew up just up the street, and I went to Cryan’s all the time," says the 7th Congressional District candidate.

But if she pleasantly surprised some of her opponents who thought she would come into the race with riding crop and foxhounds, she also encountered a party that gave her and her family a jolt bordering on disrespect, as she failed to secure party backing based on her mother’s clout and lost three of the district’s four organizational lines in the pre-primary.

Tom Roughneen 

In his dogged fight to stay relevant and competitive against the reality of state Sen. Leonard Lance’s big organizational advantages heading into their 7th Congressional District primary, Thomas Roughneen tonight talked strategy with his allies in a conference call.

The former Essex County prosecutor and Iraq War veteran faces a Thursday night debate with the other competitors in this Republican Primary fight, including businesswoman Kate Whitman, former Summit Council Vice-President Kelly Hatfield, Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks, Seton Hall business professor A.D. Amar, Murray Sabrin-running mate Darren Young, and Lance.

The debate will be the last of the cycle with two weeks to go before Election Day.

Ideologically P. Kelly Hatfield isn't much different from her two most high profile opponents in the 7th Congressional District's Republican primary.

Like state Sen. Leonard Lance and former first-daughter Kate Whitman, Kelly considers herself conservative, but with moderate stances on social issues like abortion (all three are pro-choice, with exceptions).

It can be hard to stick out in a field of seven candidates when she doesn't have a 17-year record as a highly visible member of the state legislature, like Lance, or a political lineage going back 100 years, like Whitman. Nor has Hatfield staked a place out well to the right of her opponents, as Scotch Plains Mayor Marty Marks.

As 3rd Congressional District Republican congressional candidates Jack Kelly and Chris Myers hurl accusations of patronage and pay-to-play at each other, unopposed Democrat John Adler has been practicing uncontroversial retail politics: going door-to-door, standing with a veterans group and accepting an environmental endorsement.

While a crowded field of Republican candidates fights tooth and nail for that party's nomination in the 7th Congressional District - with the two highest profile candidates spending a good amount of time arguing over negative advertising - unopposed Democrat Linda Stender has been shoring up support at local Democratic events.

Both Democrats are running for open congressional seats that have been in Republican hands for years. During this particularly eventful Republican primary season, Adler and Stender have been able to sit on growing piles of cash as their GOP counterparts conduct opposition research that the Democrats could be able to use in the run up to the November general election - especially in the 3rd District.

Democrat: If Frank Lautenberg wins re-election, he will become the first five-term United States Senator in New Jersey history. But to become the Democratic nominee in a state that hasn’t elected a Republican to the United States Senate since 1972, Lautenberg must first win a bitter primary contest against Rob Andrews, a ten-term Congressman from South Jersey who his 34 years his junior. The race is very much about Lautenberg’s age (84) – the controversy about the debates is a metaphor for the “Lautenberg is too old” campaign – and about Andrews’ record on Iraq (perhaps a little hawkish for some New Jersey Democrats). Lautenberg has more money and organizational support, although Andrews is competitive in the fundraising area and has added a few key endorsements (though not organization lines) in Central and North Jersey, and some important labor backing. Lautenberg has never been passive when it comes to political campaigns, and his TV commercials are hard-hitting. He needs to get through the next couple of weeks without a mistake that might highlight his age – clearly the reason he’d rather suffer news reports that he won’t debate than one about a stumble. Leans Lautenberg

Republican: The good news is that the GOP field has settled down -- it’s been almost a month since a new Republican candidate entered the race for the United States Senate; the bad news is that the three contenders – former Rep. Dick Zimmer, State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio, and Ramapo College professor Murray Sabrin – are having trouble raising money and diverting attention from the hot Democratic primary. With just a few weeks to go, Republican voters still don’t know who much about the candidates. The GOP primary is a contest between Zimmer and Pennacchio – and not Sabrin, the leader of Ron Paul’s New Jersey campaign; both have several important organization lines. Zimmer, who had been a prodigious fundraiser when he served in Congress in the 1990’s, needs to raise money quickly to secure the chance to run in the general election. Pennacchio needs to win a huge margin in his home county, Morris, which produces more votes in a Republican primary than any other county in the state. Toss-Up.

For Immediate Release: May 12, 2008

Contact: Amanda Woloshen, 908-267-1613

At the beginning of this campaign Kate Whitman promised to run a positive campaign saying Senator "Lance is a statesman … any primary with him in it will probably be the best-behaved primary anyone's ever seen." (12/3/08 Express-Times).  A promise she has already broken with negative ads that distort Leonard Lance’s record.

State Sen. Leonard Lance is the front-runner in his bid for the GOP nomination for Congress in the 7th district
Leonard Lance doesn’t like to use the F-word, but some pundits say it applies to him in his bid for the Republican nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district.

“I never use the word ‘frontrunner’,” said Lance, a veteran State Senator from Hunterdon County. “I think it’s a dangerous word, and I campaign as vigorously as I can.”

While Kate Whitman, the daughter of former Gov.Christine Todd Whitman, has raised the most money in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Mike Ferguson, Lance appears to have raised enough to assuage doubts about his fundraising prowess. And he has secured the organization lines in two counties where 67% of Republican primary voters live.

As of the end of last month, Lance had raised $294,130 – which includes a $100,000 personal loan -- and has $255,654 on hand for the primary. Whitman has taken in $444,433 and has $307,260 on hand, although about $50,000 of that is from maxed out donations and must be set aside for the general election.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), left, and Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union). 

FANWOOD - Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union) flexed her party muscles today as she toured a senior care facility here with chief deputy whip in the U.S. House, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), and defended herself against attacks from prospective general election rivals.

Stender, the Democrats’ nominee in the 7th District Congressional District, and Wasserman Schultz, co-chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue program, underscored their commitment to universal health care, Medicare and Social Security.

“We need to elect someone with a conscience, who understands that health care should be a high priority,” said Wasserman Shultz, sitting with Stender in the parlor of the Chelsea at Fanwood. “That’s why I’m here, to highlight Linda’s promising candidacy.”