Joseph Pennacchio

[img_assist|nid=18131|title=Frank Lautenberg, 84, won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, defeating Rob Andrews by a wide margin|desc=Getty Images Photo|link=none|align=none|width=420|height=265]

Incumbent Frank Lautenberg has won renomination for a fifth term in the United States Senate. He leads Rep. Rob Andrews by a 61%-34% margin. Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello is running a weak third with 5% of the vote. Lautenberg won huge margins in Bergen, Hudson, Essex and Passaic counties, carried Middlesex and Union comfortably, and held his own in several South Jersey counties.

In the GOP primary, former Rep. Dick Zimmer leads State Sen. Joe Pennacchio by a 46-40% margin. Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin has 14% of the vote.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dick Zimmer as he appeared in ABC television debate on Sunday.SOMERVILLE - State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris) never convinced party leaders that he could be the darling of the GOP, most of whom instead backed former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer for U.S. Senate.

Now, with a full day remaining before Election Day, maverick conservative leader Steve Lonegan, a former mayor of Bogota and gubernatorial candidate, says he will vote for Pennacchio, while questioning Zimmer’s ability to generate energy among rank-and-file Republicans.

NEWARK - Borrowing from American regional painting, Sen. JosephState Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris) Pennacchio (R-Morris) followed up on his press conference attack of former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer by issuing a mailer lampooning Zimmer’s use of a farmland assessment tax break.

The piece shows the heads of Zimmer and former state Sen. Ellen Karcher (D-Monmouth) pasted on the bodies of the farmer and his wife in Grant Wood’s "American Gothic."

"It’s silliness," said Zimmer U.S. Senate campaign spokesman Ken Kurson. "We have no response. No comment."

State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris) today. 

TRENTON - Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris) sees a link between his Republican primary opponent Dick Zimmer and fallen Democrat Ellen Karcher.

In her state Senate fight last year, Karcher was bedeviled by a farmland assessment mini-scandal that her opponent Jennifer Beck highlighted in aggressive television advertising on her way to finally burying Karcher by a ten-point margin on Election Day.

Running behind Zimmer in their U.S. Senate primary contest, according to a Monmouth University poll and just ahead of economist Murray Sabrin, Pennacchio thinks he can sink the front-running former congressman with the same strategy.

"He’s got a Karcher problem," said Pennacchio, questioning Zimmer’s sincerity as a Washington-D.C. based lobbyist who claims a farmland assessment tax break.

Will Mennen, above, backs home county candidate ZimmerHunterdon County's five freeholders - Director Erik Peterson, Deputy Director William Mennen, Matt Holt, George Melick and Ron Sworen -today endorsed former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer for U.S. Senate.

"I am honored to have the support and backing of my home county freeholders to help in my fight," Zimmer said. "I look forward to working with them over the coming months to defeat the Democrats in November."

Zimmer is running in the GOP primary against state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio and economist Murray Sabrin.

The Sierra Club today backed Sen. Frank Lautenberg in his reelection bid for the U.S. Senate in both the Democratic primary and the general election.

"It is entirely fitting that today on Earth Day the Sierra Club is endorsing Sen. Lautenberg," Jeff Tittel, director of the Sierra Club New Jersey Chapter, said in a statement, "because there is no stronger advocate for the environment in the United States Senate than Frank Lautenberg."

Lautenberg said he was honored to receive the group's endorsement.

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-1) today stood by his aRep. Rob Andrewsdvocacy of Gov. Jon Corzine's toll roads proposal in the face of bad mouthing from state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris).

"I give the governor credit," said Andrews, who entered the U.S. Senate race last week against Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

"We want to address the state's problems," Andrews said. "I take Joe Pennacchio's criticism as a high compliment."

As he struggles to secure his party's nomination in a turbulent GOP primary, Pennacchio treated the entry of Andrews into the contest asState Sen. Joseph Pennacchio an opportunity to go after another Democratic target.

When asked to draw a contrast between himself and the Camden Democrat, Pennacchio said, "I never raised a tax.

"Joe Pennacchio has a record of cutting taxes," the senator added of himself.

The Republican referred to Andrews's public declaration of support earlier this year for Corzine's plan to increase tolls by 50% every four years until 2022 on the New Jersey Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, Atlantic City Expressway and Route 440.

From left to right: Will Mennen of Hunterdon County, Bergen County GOP Chairman Rob Ortiz, and Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean.

Senate candidate Joe Pennacchio won the Somerset County Republican convention tonight.

Pennacchio won the county line with 247 votes to rival Andy Unanue’s 51.

Murray Sabrin, who refused to drop his plan to run alternate slates of freeholder candidates, was not allowed to participate.

On the sidelines throughout a bruising GOP pAssemblyman Jon Bramnickrimary for U.S. Senate, Assembly Minority Whip Jon Bramnick (R-Union) today endorsed state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris).

"Joe has worked very hard in my district," said Bramnick, who had himself mulled a bid for U.S. Senate last year before opting out. "I have worked with Joe day in and day out for five years, and he is a very honest and straightforward guy."

A moderate Republican, Bramnick conceded that Pennacchio is probably more conservative on most issues. But ideology isn’t as important as character, in Bramnick’s judgement.

Some of the ideas Joe Pennacchio wrote 17 years ago may seem unusual – or to Republican rival Murray Sabrin, even “fascist.”

But Pennacchio said they’re nothing more than ideas he penned years before he held public office. Some, he says, have been proven to be good ideas. Others he’s “evolved” beyond.

The important thing, Pennacchio says, is that even before he entered the political realm, he was thinking of ways to help his country.

“Keep in mind that was written by a non-politician as a series of position papers for my own edification. I bound them together, paid for it myself and it wasn’t published,” said Pennacchio. “All it shows is that even 18 years ago I was thinking about the problems that affect this country and how we deal with them.”