Donald Cresitello

Signatures on petitions for U.S. Senate:

Rob Andrews: 5,970
Frank Lautenberg: 4,950
Murray Sabrin: 1,690
Donald Cresitello: 1,384
Andy Unanue: 1,379
Joseph Pennacchio: 1,370

According to the state Division of Elections, Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello filed for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination today using the slogan “Democrat for Jobs, Health Care, Secure Boarders (sic).” (Surely he meant borders.) When we figure out who’s at fault – either Cresitello or the state Division of Elections – now under the direction of Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells – we’ll let you know.

TRENTON - Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello todaMorristown Mayor Donald Cresitelloy filed petitions to run for U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary.

"We've collected 1,300 signatures and we hope to collect another 200 by noon," Cresitello said this morning.

This afternoon, Cresitello told PolitickerNJ.com that supporters of his delivered over 1,300 peititons to the state Division of Elections office at about 20 minutes to four.

"Not bad for a week's worth of collecting," said the mayor.

MORRISTOWN - Mayor Donald Cresitello today said he’s "99 percentMorristown Mayor Donald Cresitello certain" he will enter the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate even though U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews this week mounted his own challenge to Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

"This is a case of the power brokers battling, nothing more," said Cresitello of Andrews’ 11th hour entry into the race. "This is Andrews and Norcross and Lesniak and maybe Bergen all lining up together. This is Rothman desperate for support for himself, playing the Obama card.

"This is me, by contrast," he added, "clearly out there on my own, recognizing there are times when you need conservative solutions and times when you need liberal solutions, and that you shouldn’t be rigid. I really believe the people of New Jersey are tired of the power brokers picking the candidates."

Crowleymania '08 is overRepublican sources say that John Crowley’s decision not to run for the United States Senate in 2008 is final, despite considerable lobbying by some GOP leaders to get the biotech millionaire in the race. Sources say that Crowley, who appeared to be in the race on Friday and then announced on Monday that he would not be a candidate, was indeed reconsidering his candidacy. That leaves the Republican field at State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio, Goya Foods millionaire Andy Unanue, and Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin.

Tom Byrne might challenge Frank Lautenberg in the Democratic primaryAs Sen. Frank Lautenberg gets ready to kick off his campaign with a show of Democratic support in Trenton, you can bet that potential Democratic challenger Tom Byrne will be paying attention.

Byrne said that he still hasn’t made a decision on whether he’s going to challenge Lautenberg for the Democratic nomination, but plans to shortly.

“I’m going to have a round of conversations this morning with some key people and see where that goes, but I think I’ll have a decision in 24 hours,” he said.

Byrne commissioned a poll that was conducted late last week, and spent the weekend pouring over the data. He doesn’t want to share the results just yet.