On his 92nd birthday, Frelinghuysen weighs in on presidential contest

Former U.S. Rep. Peter Frelinghuysen, who turned 92 today, said he favors Sen. John McCain for president and former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney as his second choice.

"He has great integrity, and he sticks to his guns while everyone else hedges," said Frelinghuysen, who knew McCain’s late father, Navy Admiral John Sidney McCain, Jr., commander of the U.S. Pacific Command during the Vietnam War.

"The father was a short and very lively military man, somewhat like his son," Frelinghuysen recalled.

The congressman, who served from 1953 to 1975, said as the former governor of a liberal state, Romney doesn’t project the same resolve on issues as McCain, but would probably be a good president, in his view.

"I have no idea whether he’ll get a bounce out of Michigan or not," Frelinghuysen said of the candidate’s home state GOP primary victory on Tuesday. "No one has any idea about what’s going to happen right now on the Republican side."

In any case, the lifelong Republican knows he doesn’t like anyone among the Democratic field of candidates. "I tried to watch the debate the other night - you know, the three of them there, I was so bored with it I turned it off," Frelinghuysen said.

No fan of President George W. Bush, the congressman called the sitting president "a disappointment."

Frelinghuysen described his efforts to help preserve what is now known as the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge as his best accomplishment in the U.S. Congress.

"I love the county," said the Morris County resident. "I was in the city today and I couldn’t wait to come back here."

Regarding the re-election bid of 83-year old U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg and whether he’s too old to serve, Frelinghuysen said, "Who am I to judge, if I could be running against him, being the age I am?

He laughed off a question as to whether he would consider getting in the U.S. Senate race.

"One Frelinghuysen in the family in office is enough," he said, and wouldn’t comment about whom he prefers in a GOP primary field that includes businesswoman Anne Evans Estabrook, state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio, and economist Murray Sabrin.

"I’m just not close enough to know," he said.