Madden set to announce for re-election on January 1

Camden County Democrats say that State Senator Frederick Madden will kick off his bid for re-election to a second term on New Year's Day at his campaign headquarters in Washington Township. There has been considerable speculation over the last six months that Madden would not run again and that Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, the Mayor of Washington Township, would replace him. Some activists, including Republicans and leaders of public employee unions, have been urging former GOP State Senator George Geist -- now a state Administrative Law Judge -- to enter the race. Madden beat Geist by only 63 votes in 2003, in perhaps the most expensive Legislative race in state history. Moriarty and two-term Assemblyman David Mayer will also kick off their own re-election campaigns on January 1. The incumbents have already begun airing cable television spots touting their constitutent service operation.

Insiders from both sides view a hotly contested race for three seats on the Washington Township Council -- a campaign that might be considered a referendum on Moriarty -- as a key component to the 2007 campaign in the fourth district. Republican Councilman Stephen Altamuro, who served briefly in the State Assembly before losing in 2003, heads a GOP ticket against Democratic Councilwoman Michelle Martin, Altamuro's former running mate who switched parties in 2004. A GOP win in Washington Township, combined with their victories last May in Gloucester Township (they elected a Mayor and won two of three Council seat) could give Republicans a reason to believe the fourth district Senate and Assembly seats might be in contention.