Donald Payne

New Jersey’s Democratic Congressional delegation issued a scathing statement on Rob Andrew’s Senate candidacy today, saying that he broke his pledge to fully support incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg for reelection and that his conduct has been “both outrageous and unacceptable."

Six of the state’s seven Democratic Congressmen -- Frank Pallone, Bill Pascrell, Steve Rothman, Rush Holt, Albio Sires and Donald Payne -- co-signed the statement, in which they called on their Democratic colleague to drop his candidacy.

"It is now clear that Congressman Rob Andrews has failed to gain thenecessary support to realistically compete in this race, and therefore, we urge Congressman Andrews to end his campaign,” they said.

The congressmen, four of whom are interested in succeeding Lautenberg some day, also argued that Andrews’s primary challenge will weaken the eventual Democratic nominee against his Republican challenger.

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.

Mark Alexander, a senior advisor to Barack Obama’s says speculation that he might challenge Rep. Donald Payne in the 10th district Democratic primary is not accurate.  "I'm not running,” Alexander, a Seton Hall law professor, told PolitickerNJ.com.

Andy Unanue will file his nominating petitions for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination today, although his intention to continue his two week old candidacy remains uncertain after party leaders sought to push him out last week and anoint John Crowley.  Crowley turned it down – twice. Keep an eye on Unanue’s Committee on Vacancies – that group of three may have the power to put another candidate in the race.

Keep an eye on local filings at various County Clerk’s offices to see if Frank Lautenberg and Rob Andrews file full slates – including Freeholder candidates – in any of the counties where the other has the organization line. 

Look out for news on who will replace Andrews as the Democratic candidate for Congress in the first district.  Chances are it will be a placeholder – so that Democratic leaders can get together after the primary to pick a candidate.

Watch the tenth congressional district and see if anyone files to run against ten-term incumbent Donald Payne, who will be on the Lautenberg slate.  Over the weekend, some Democrats were talking about Mark Alexander, a Seton Hall Law Professor who works for Barack Obama.

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.”

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg addresses the crowd as Gov. Jon Corzine looks on.

TRENTON -- Burnishing his blue collar roots and seniority in Washington, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg today launched his re-election bid at the Trenton Marriott, promising to lead the fight for New Jersey's working families.

"I will build on my work of the last few years, to stand strong against those who attack our values that short change our state and to deliver the results that improve people's lives," said Lautenberg, who was first elected to the Senate in 1982.

Lionel Leach and Jackie Teel, working the phones in Clinton HQ in NewarkWhen Sen. Ronald Rice and North Ward Democratic Party boss Steve Adubato find themselves in the same political foxhole, something is either amiss, or it’s a presidential election year.

In certain company, the lead-up to Tuesday’s historic Democratic Primary contest looks like some incidental skirmish in Newark with here-today, gone-tomorrow alliances, played out as a backdrop to that more fervent chess war between local rivals angling for the real epic of some area city council and freeholder races later this year.

Lionel Leach, Rice’s former campaign field director, serves as spokesman for Sen. Hillary Clinton in her campaign’s week-and-a-half old Broad Street headquarters, even as North Ward Democratic Organization campaign firebrand Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz continues to steel the Latino vote for Clinton in rallies statewide. On the heels of his own family fight with Adubato, U.S. Rep. Donald Payne also intends to do some campaigning for Clinton this weekend.

Representative Donald Payne doesn’t think that "Vice President Bob Menendez" sounds too absurd.

“If he became vice president, I would think that some of our issues could certainly be heard more in the executive branch of government, so I certainly think it would be a very big plus for New Jersey,” said Payne.

Payne endorsed Hillary Clinton early this month, and served with Menendez for 13 years in the House of Representatives. In Menendez, Payne sees a politician like himself, who worked him self up from the lower rungs of local government to a prominent position at the federal level.

Newark Mayor Cory BookerAfter M. Teresa Ruiz won her general election senate race, Steve Adubato finally let Cory Booker know what he thought about the mayor’s primary election efforts on behalf of Bilal Beasley in the 28th district.

Adubato, lifelong political warrior and Newark native, frankly wasn’t impressed.

Beasley, with Booker’s so called muscle behind him, had failed to beat the always independent and hard-to-gauge Sen. Ronald Rice, perennial west ward cowboy and activist, and a mutual bane to Adubato and Booker.

Adubato’s telephone tongue-lashing awakened another old frustration for the mayor.