Chris Smith

PRINCETON - Gov. Jon Corzine's Tuesday night shout-out to 4thJosh Zeitz Congressional District candidate Josh Zetiz was the governor's second public hurrah in as many weeks for the underdog Democrat challenging U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-4). 

Corzine spearheaded a Zeitz fund-raising event at a Trenton restaurant last week, and plugged the professor's candidacy at his governor's gala for the State Democratic Committee last night.

Zeitz's allies in Mercer County took notice.

New Jersey supporters of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) celebrated their candidate’s courage as they enlivened the crowd here at Burlington County Community College in advance of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s appearance.

McCain is campaigning in New Jersey today for the fourth time in five months, according to state Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer), state campaign chair for McCain, who is serving as emcee here in Pemberton.

After receiving a standing ovation from the crowd of 2,000 here packed into the gym, retiring U.S. Rep. Jim Saxton (R-3) made his argument for McCain simple and straightforward.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith: Getty ImagesWhen Rep. Chris Smith was first elected to the House, he was brand new to the Washington scene. But after 27 years of representing New Jersey in Congress, Smith has spent almost half of his life living in Virginia.

Smith is in his home state only a small fraction of the time. That is a point that the congressman conceded in an interview with PolitickerNJ.com, but he said his virtual absence from the 4th District is a sacrifice he makes for its residents and to be near his family.

“I’m on assignment here. I fight for New Jersey in Washington,” Smith said. “I want to fight for my constituents and make a difference in Washington.”

DISTRICT 1

Ten-term incumbent Rob Andrews is seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.

Democrat: Camille Andrews, the wife of Rep. Rob Andrews, is seeking the seat her husband for eighteen years until deciding to challenge incumbent Frank Lautenberg in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary. She faces two primary opponents: Mahdi Ibn-Ziyardm, a social studies teacher and Camden Democratic Committeeman; and John Caramanna, who ran for the State Assembly in 2007 but withdrew from the Democratic primary. Bishop David G. Evans, a major religious and civic leader in Camden and a member of the Democratic National Convention Credentials Committee, dropped out of the race last week. Safe Andrews

Republicans: Rev. Dale Glading, who runs a prison ministry, is the GOP organization candidate. He races a primary challenge from Gulf War veteran Fernando Powers, a supporter of Ron Paul and Murray Sabrin. Safe Glading

TRENTON - As Democrats gear up for a bruising senate primary season, unofficial congressional filing results with the state Division of Elections show no same-party challengers to incumbent Democratic congressmen.      

Only in the 1st District, where Democratic U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews is vacating his seat to challenge U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg in the primary, are there several hopefuls battling for what Andrews leaves behind.

While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already called on President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics this summer, Rep. Chris Smith wants to take it further – a complete boycott of the games.

In an interview with PolitickerNJ.com last week, Smith renewed his call to boycott the Olympics, in part because of the Chinese government’s recent crackdown on Tibetan dissent. But Smith has been a long-time advocate of such a protest, stemming from the Chinese regime’s long record of human rights violations.

“I’ve called for it very aggressively,” said Smith, the former chairman of the House Judiciary’s subcommittee on Human Rights and Law. “We’re calling it the ‘genocide Olympics’ because of their enabling of the genocide in Darfur.”

On the day President George W. Bush visited a credit counseling service center in Freehold to address a national housing crisis, Democratic candidates for Congress seized the opportunity to denounce what they see as Bush’s failed economic policies.

"With about 3.5 million foreclosure filings since 2006, the Federal Reserve banks estimates that 2 million more are on the way over the next two years," said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. "Meanwhile, new homes sales are at their lowest point in 13 years tumbling 40.6 percent in the Northeast alone. The President's short term foreclosure 'timeout' is a band-aid approach that does nothing to stimulate the economy or increase homeownership."

"Military families have made tremendous sacrifices for our nation, but Chris Smith voted against basic tax credits for the neediest military families. Voters deserve to know why."

(Bordentown, NJ)-Chris Smith says that he wants to run on his record in Congress. Unfortunately, there are parts of his record that voters may find less than appealing.

The Winner of this week’s Valerie Huttle Chutzpah Award is the Chris Smith for Congress campaign, which criticized Democratic challenger Josh Zeitz for living and voting outside the district.  Zeitz voted in New York while he was in college, and lived in Massachusetts and in England while he was a college professor at Harvard and Cambridge.  It’s interesting that Smith would even bring up residency as an issue, considering he lives in Virginia.

Josh Zeitz wants to become Chris Smith's 15th Democratic opponentAmong the Mercer County Democrats who gathered for Saturday's convention were three people who had fought the same fight and lost.

United States Rep. Chris Smith has been beating Democrats in the Fourth Congressional District for 27 years, but the assembled supporters had high hopes for Zeitz.

U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-12) introduced the latest Democratic challenger as a “very accomplished scholar and really exciting candidate.”

Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes, Washington Township Municipal Chairman Larry Schneider and Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer) lost to Smith in 1992, 1998 and 2000 respectively.

“I’m celebrating my tenth anniversary this year,” Schneider dead-panned.