Camille Andrews

Camille AndrewsTRENTON - The Lautenberg campaign today took exception to Andrews's people describing the congressman's kickoff as an event reserved for family as opposed to politicians.

"Camille Andrews is a politician," said Lautenberg spokesperson Julie Roginsky of the candidate's wife, who's running for her husband's District 1 congressional seat, and who stood with Andrews in Trenton today.

Answering criticism that he appears to be installing Camille Andrews as a placeholder while he runs for the U.S. Senate, the congressman repeated his promise to not reclaim his House seat should he fail in his June 3 primary bid against Lautenberg.

Less than an hour after Rep. Rob Andrews formally kicked off his Democratic primary campaign in Trenton, 84-year-old incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg turned out one quarter of the women in the U.S. Senate to stump for him today at a Newark fundraiser.

Senators Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) spoke at the $500-per-head show of force at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

Lautenberg staffers said the event is expected to raise at least $200,000 for the campaign – part of the $1 million in fundraising commitments that Lautenberg has gotten since Andrews started his challenge. That’s on top of the $4.3 million he already had in the bank.

PolitickerNJ.com is returning to our traditional weekly Winners & Losers format that our readers enjoyed between 2000 and 2007. Wally Edge will again develop the list, which will appear every Friday morning.

One of Camille Andrews’s first district congressional primary challengers issued a press release today saying that he plans on being a “serious challenger.”

Bishop David G. Evans, Pastor of the Bethany Baptist Church in Lindenwold, praised Andrews’s husband, who’s dropping out of the congressional race to challenge incumbent Frank Lautenberg in the senate primary.

First district Republican congressional candidate Dale Glading today challenged current Democratic candidate Camille Andrews to a series of debates.

Camille Andrews is filling the ballot spot left vacant by her husband, Rob Andrews, who’s running in the Democratic senate primary. She told the Star-Ledger yesterday that she plans to run as more than just a placeholder candidate, though she will step aside if asked by party leaders.

As Camille Andrews embarks upon a congressional campaign that may or not be a placeholder candidacy, she might consider the recent history of wives running for office while their husbands are also running.

When Nevada Congressman Jim Gibbons ran for Governor in 2006, his wife, Dawn Gibbons, ran for his open House seat.  She finished third in the GOP primary with 25% of the vote, and Jim Gibbons narrowly won the GOP primary. And in 2002, Arkansas First Lady Janet Huckabee ran for Secretary of State and lost 62%-38% in the same election her husband, Mike Huckabee, was re-elected Governor by a 53%-47% margin.

Incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg isn’t happy that Camille Andrews has been selected to fill the ballot spot that her husband, Rep. Rob Andrews, is vacating to run a primary against Lautenberg.

“This doesn't pass the smell test -- at all,” said Lautenberg Campaign Manager Brendan Gill in a statement. “New Jersey needs a Senator who will fight on behalf of the people of this state everyday -- not someone who plays games with the voters to protect his local political boss, George Norcross. Like much of the Andrews campaign so far, this latest maneuver demonstrates the old school politics that the voters of New Jersey are sick and tired of."

United States Rep. Rob Andrews wants to put the speculation to rest: if he doesn’t win the Senate primary against incumbent Frank Lautenberg, he will not return to his House seat.

“I’m running to win the Senate primary. I’m thoroughly committed to it,” he said. “Win or lose, I’m not running for the House.”

Many political insiders had wondered whether the selection of Camille Andrews to fill the primary ballot spot meant that Andrews was hedging his bets – that if he lost the Republican primary, his wife could step aside and let him run again for a ninth term in his safe Democratic district.

Andrew’s commitment came just after the Democratic Chairmen of Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties – which comprise Andrews’s congressional district – released a statement officially announcing that Andrews’s wife, Camille, would fill in for her husband on the House primary ballot. She will hold onto the spot while the party deliberates on who to nominate for the seat.

The decision to put Camille Andrews on the ballot as a candidate for her husband’s open House seat is likely to become an issue in Rob Andrews’ campaign for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination. Some Democrats suspect that the move was designed to offer the incumbent a safety net to return to the House of Representatives if he loses his primary challenge to Frank Lautenberg, and wonder why South Jersey Democratic leaders were unable to simply agree upon a successor during the week between Andrews’ decision to run and filing day. Still, this is a vintage George Norcross move: there have been several times over the last few years that Camden County Democrats put a placeholder on the primary ballot. Norcross has little desire to be inconvenienced by filing deadines.

South Jersey Democrats will file nominating petitions today for Camille Andrews, the wife of Rep. Rob Andrews, as a candidate for Congress in the 1st district.  Sources say that she will act as a placeholder until party leaders can formally select a candidate to run in this safe Democratic district.  Rob Andrews, who is challenging Frank Lautenberg in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, is expected to announce that he will end his eighteen-year career in the House regardless of the results of the primary.