Jeff Bell

In New Jersey, incumbent United States Senators have rarely faced competitive primary challenges, and the only incumbent Senator to lose a primary was Clifford Case, a four-term Republican who lost 50.7%-49.3% to conservative Jeffrey Bell, a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan’s 1976 presidential campaign.  Case had faced primary challenges from the right before: Robert Morris, who had been Chief Counsel for Senate Internal Security Subcommittee headed by Joseph McCarthy, won 33% in 1960; and James Walter Ralph, a Bergen County physician, received 30% in 1972.

Frank Lautenberg’s 35-point lead over Rob Andrews in the race for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination is substantial, but that doesn’t mean the 84-year-old incumbent will coast to victory in the June 3 primary.  Back in 1978, the last time an incumbent Senator faced a serious primary challenge, an Eagleton/Rutgers poll conducted just two weeks before the Republican primary was good news for four-term Senator Clifford Case.  Only 3% of voters were able to identify his rival, Jeff Bell, and by a 43%-8% margin, felt that Case would make the better Senator.  Bell won by 3,473 votes – a 51%-49% margin.

Chris Christie may face a real challenge from Steve Lonegan if he runs for Governor next year: Getty Images Photo
Christopher J. Christie got a big headline yesterday with the indictment of former state Sen. Joseph Coniglio. But his victory in prosecuting another prominent public official was tempered a bit by a Wednesday New York Times story harshly critical of “the way he has conducted business” and a Thursday editorial that slammed him around.

Has the aura of inevitability around Christie as the Republican nominee for Governor in 2009 faded?

The next election is nineteen months away, and it’s not even a sure bet that Gov. Jon Corzine will seek reelection. But of the few Republican candidates on the horizon, this winter belongs to conservative activist and former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, whose name is associated with the defeat of two ballot measures in November’s election, and who has taken a stand at the forefront of the anti-monetization movement, warming him to the type of mainstream Republican politicians with whom he’s feuded with in the past.