Frank LoBiondo

Frank Lautenberg, who at age 84 will seek a fifth term as a United States Senator from New Jersey. If he wins, he’d become the oldest and longest-serving Senator in state history. But a sudden retirement could turn New Jersey politics upside-down.

Common Sense America Executive Director

John Adler, the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman who is seeking to become the first Democratic Congressman from Jim Saxton’s district since 1994. And watch Frank LoBiondo, if Jeff Van Drew decides he wants to be a Congressman

Kate Whitman

Charlotte DeFilippo, the veteran Union County Democratic Chair, had her records as Executive Director of the Union County Improvement Authority subpoenaed by the state Attorney General’s office.

Matthew Boxer,

Troy Singleton

The Group

Dennis Shulman

Two veteran New Jersey operatives get a chance to manage in the major leagues:

Two of the state’s leading young Hispanic politicians are

New Jersey AFL-CIO President

ScorecardIA

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani tomorrow will debut a television ad on Fox News that refocuses the campaign narrative on Sept. 11, 2001.

The former New York mayor remains New Jersey's Republican frontrunner in the race for president, with 38% support among GOP voters, or 26% more than the number two man in the Republican field here, Sen. John McCain, according to a Dec. 13th Quinnipiac University poll.

The two New Jersey House seats most clearly in play next year are the two that have been held by the Republicans for the longest period of time:  Democrats have not won the seat now held by Jim Saxton for 126 years, and Mike Ferguson’s district has not elected a Democrat since 1954.

The new class of legislators isn’t even seated yet, but that won’t stop us from speculating about the Assembly election in 2009.

Granted, two years is a political eternity, and which party will hold an advantage in that time depends most heavily on who’s at the top of the ticket. But when the new Assemblymen and women take their places in Trenton early next year, there will be 25 freshmen – several from competitive districts. Those represent the best opportunity for each party to knock off some incumbents.

Right now, however, from this great distance, it doesn’t appear as though any new districts will come into the fold, or that control of either legislative body is likely to shift. Indeed, it’s more likely that 2009 will see a smaller number of districts in play.

Insiders from both parties seem to agree on one thing: the only candidate who can beat Frank LoBiondo is Jeff Van Drew.  If Van Drew runs, he’ll have strong party support in a race that will still be difficult – and if he doesn’t, it is possible that the Democrats don’t have anyone else who can beat LoBiondo.

It’s no secret that Van Drew wants to be a Congressman: he went to Washington earlier this year to talk to the DCCC about a race, even when his election to the State Senate was not yet locked in.  But now he’s having some second thoughts – perhaps realizing that taking on LoBiondo isn’t the same as a race against Nicholas Asselta.

Keith Davis, Atlantic County Republican Chairman, issued the following statement on the growing speculation that Jeff Van Drew will run for Congress next year.

Jefferson Van Drew will take his seat in the State Senate in January as the first Democrat to represent Cape May and Cumberland counties in the upper house under the current State Constitution.  You have to go back more than fifty years, to the days of Howard Sharp and Elmer Wene, to find another Democrat from New Jersey’s deep South.

But how long will Van Drew remain in the Senate?  He faces some pressure from Democratic leaders to run for Congress next year against seven-term Republican Frank LoBiondo, and people who know Van Drew well says he very much wants to be a Congressman.

Gov. Jon Corzine campaigns in Atlantic City for Team Whelan on Sunday.

The Absecon Channel separates Brigantine from Atlantic City in this world of salt water and low-slung housing broken up by tragicomic human silos with names like Taj and Showboat.

But it’s all the same battlefield here in the 2nd district, where forces are mobilizing for Sen. (and Egg Harbor Township Mayor) James "Sonny" McCullough or Assemblyman James Whelan.

In Atlantic City, a second tall and bearded politician joins Team Whelan today in a senior citizens complex on Atlantic Avenue. It’s Gov. Jon Corzine, who knows seniors are a critical voting block, particularly in an off-election year like this, and he’s working the older crowd overtime with his best up-close-and-personal demeanor.