NJ-03

State Sen. John Adler raised about $550,000 for his 3rd District congressional race last quarter, according to a press release issued by his campaign.

That brings Adler’s total raised so far to $2.4 million, and he has $1.2 million on hand (early in the summer, Adler had $1.4 million on hand).

In the release, the Adler campaign tried to rub in their fundraising advantage in to Myers, noting that in September they received $9,000 from residents of Medford, where Myers is the mayor.

"The people who know Chris Myers best, the residents of Medford, are clearly fed up with Mayor Myers' tax-and-spend policies and are showing their displeasure by contributing their hard-earned money to John Adler,” said Adler Campaign Manager Mark Warren.

Third District Republican congressional candidate Chris Myers raised $369,224 last quarter and has $287,832 on hand, according to Campaign Manager Chris Russell.

That sum does not account for the likely large cash infusion that came from President George W. Bush’s visit to New Jersey last month to raise money for him and fellow Republican House candidate Leonard Lance. Although the fundraiser took place last quarter, the campaign did not receive its share of the proceeds until after September 30th.

Myers' total raised so far is just shy of the million dollar mark, at $995,773 – much of which he had to spend in his contentious primary against Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly.

Democratic rival John Adler’s campaign has not released their fundraising totals yet, but as of last quarter he had the largest war chest of any open seat challenger in the country, with $1.46 million on hand.

Former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney will hold a press conference with 3rd District Republican Congressional candidate Chris Myers tomorrow night.

The event will take place in downtown Medford at 5:30p.m., where Myers is the mayor. 
Romney is also holding a fundraiser for 7th District Congressional candidate Leonard Lance tomorrow.

Just before Medford Mayor Chris Myers announced that he planned to hold a press conference detailing State Sen. Adler’s receipt of money from a legislative slush fund, Adler acknowledged that he took some money from the Property Tax Assistance and Community Developments Grants program, but denied that the funds were used for pet projects or that he exerted any undue influence to get them.

“John Adler not only had no influence over the Property Tax Assistance and Community Development Fund, he did not know that two legislators had discretion over it. As he has since his election in 1991, Sen. Adler has fought for improvements in his district. These were not "pet projects" – again, the words of Chris Myers - but programs of importance to John Adler's constituents,” said Adler spokesman Mark Warren.

It is unclear for which specific projects those funds were used, and how much money Adler received.

He’s a powerful Congressman from a different state, but House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Chares Rangel (D-N.Y.) is the issue du jour in New Jersey’s two competitive House races.

Rangel helped raise a lot of money for Democrats Linda Stender and John Adler with a fundraiser and PAC donations. Now that he’s under fire for several allegedly unethical practices, cash strapped Republicans Leonard Lance and Chris Myers think their more well-off Democratic counterparts should give the Rangel-related money back.

This isn’t the first time that Republicans have raised Rangel as a campaign issue. But the recent editorial by the New York Times calling for Rangel to step down from his committee chairmanship has made it relevant once again to the Myers and Lance campaigns.

The Pindell Report, an independent analysis of state and federal races edited by Politicker.com's James W. Pindell, today upgraded the 3rd district House race from “Likely Democratic” to “Leans Democratic,” and said that the contest in the 7th district has become more competitive.

The ranking corresponds with more optimistic national prospects for Republicans, with presidential candidate John McCain surging in the two weeks since the Republican National Convention began.  In New Jersey, recent polls put McCain within three points of Barack Obama. 

“These are two longtime Republican seats.  Democrats haven't won the 3rd since 1882 and the 7th since 1956.  Republicans are getting over heated primaries, while Democrats had cleared the field for John Adler and Linda Stender,” said Pindell.  “While the Democrats have much more money, internal polls show this race to be getting a little closer.  If John McCain is getting the base behind him as polls suggest then Lance and Myers might have a shot after all.”

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Yes, there were hard feelings after the brutal 3rd District Republican congressional primary campaign between Medford Mayor Chris Myers and Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly. And yes, Ocean County Republicans weren’t immediately lining up to donate to Myers’s cash strapped general election campaign.

But George Gilmore, the powerful chairman of the Ocean County Republican Party, said that he hosted a fundraiser for Myers two weeks ago with former baseball star Al Leiter, who grew up in Ocean County but lives in Florida.  Leiter is on deck for a distant future political run, possibly for statewide office.

If the fences between the Ocean County and Burlington County Republicans weren’t mended a month ago, they are now, according to Gilmore.

Voters of the 3rd and 7th Congressional Districts: meet Captain B.J. Hunnicutt.

Blue Jersey reports that a several liberal bloggers have commissioned a retaliatory robocall aimed at two congressional districts in New Jersey that were targeted with calls by Freedom’s Watch, a conservative advocacy group.

The call by Freedom’s Watch blames Democratic congressional candidates John Adler and Linda Stender, both state legislators, for doing nothing to repeal the state’s 14 cent gas tax.

New Jersey has the third lowest gas tax in the country.

The blogger-commissioned call stars actor Mike Farrell, who played the character B.J. Hunnicutt in M*A*S*H, associated the group with the Bush Administration.

Democrat John Adler’s congressional campaign says that groups that used to support outgoing Rep. Jim Saxton (R-Mount Holly) are falling in line behind Adler as opposed Saxton’s heir apparent, Republican Chris Myers.

The latest group to jump to Adler, according to a press release issued by Adler’s campaign today, is The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Joint Council #73. Adler’s campaign also has the endorsement of three other groups that used to back Saxton: The Fraternal Order of Police, Sierra Club, and the Recreational Fishing Alliance.

Democratic congressional candidate John AdlerJohn Adler is the richest open seat congressional candidate in the nation, according to a report from Congressional Quarterly.

Adler, a Democrat, has approximately $1 million on hand in his quest for the open seat of retiring Republican Rep. Jim Saxton. Adler is unchallenged in the June 3rd Democratic primary, while three Republicans are enmeshed in a tough primary fight to take him on.

Meanwhile, 7th district Democratic candidate Linda Stender is the fourth richest open seat challenger, with about $845,000 on hand. Stender also faces no opposition in the primary, but there are seven Republicans competing for that party’s nomination, the richest of whom has amassed a little over one-third of Stender’s war chest.