NJ-07

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.

Two Democratic state lawmakers running for Congress are being targeted by a new series of robocalls about gas prices from Freedom’s Watch, the conservative-leaning advocacy group. The calls, which will begin today, will go out to residents represented by Assemblywoman Linda Stender and Sen. John Adler.

“Hi, this is an emergency gas price alert from Freedom’s Watch. Did you know New Jersey gas taxes add more than 14 cents to every gallon of gas? 14 cents!” an announcer intones on the calls going out to voters in Stender and Adler’s districts. The call then asks what Stender and Adler are doing to address the issue. “Nothing,” announcer says.

“If we can’t depend on Linda Stender to stand up for us today, when can we count on her?” asks the call targeting Stender.

The robocalls will be going out to homes throughout the week. It is the fourth set of calls Freedom’s Watch has released slamming Democratic House incumbents and candidates. The organization just wrapped up its first radio advertisement campaign targeting Democratic incumbents.

Leonard Lance has spent his entire life around the political arena: by the time he was born in 1952, his father, Wesley Lance, had already served as an Assemblyman and State Senator (he returned to the Senate for another two terms in 1953).  Now that Lance is running for Congress, PolitickerNJ.com’s Matt Friedman asked him to name his all-time favorite Congressmen.  Lance listed three: Charles Eaton, Robert Winthrop Kean, and Millicent Fenwick.

CRANFORD -- In what might be the most common press conference setting of the campaign season, Republican Senate candidate Dick Zimmer and the 7th District Congressional candidate, State Sen. Leonard Lance, stood together at a gas station in Cranford today, where they decried a "do nothing" Democratic congress's record on energy, along with those of their opponents.

Several other candidates - including both Lance's and Zimmer's opponents - have held similar press conferences. In May, Lance's opponent, Assemblywoman Linda Stender, stood with House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) at a Scotch Plains gas station to talk about energy independence. Days later, third district Democratic congressional candidate John Adler stood with House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) at a Mount Laurel Sunoco. Last month, Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez attacked President Bush on energy prices in front of gas pumps in Paterson, and just last week Zimmer himself held a press conference in Fair Haven.

The station in Cranford, where a gallon of regular gas cost $3.99, was reflective of New Jersey, which just today saw its average price per gallon reach beyond $4.00.

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.

FLEMINGTON -- State Sen. Leonard Lance declared victory a little before 10 p.m. in the crowded Republican Party primary race for the 7th Congressional District stressing to supporters gathered at the American Legion hall that the key contrast for the November general election will be fiscal responsibility.

"We cannot tax, borrow or spend our way to fiscal responsibility and that will be the biggest contrast in the general election," said Lance, who was joined on stage by supporters, his wife Heidi and Republican state lawmakers, including state Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean Jr. and U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson, who is vacating the 7th District seat after four terms.

FLEMINGTON – Despite the bustle of mothers lined up at the entrance to Robert Hunter Elementary School, the path marked by a "vote" arrow sits untraveled.

Inside the polling area, a gymnasium, the space sits completely empty, except for an election worker irritated by our presence. "Turnout is low," he said before showing PolitickerNJ.com the exit.

This doesn't trouble Amanda Woloshen , spokeswoman for 7th District Congressional candidate Leonard Lance. "Turnout is as expected, moderate to low," she says, "but we're in a very good position."

This is Lance country.

Congressional candidate Kate Whitman is joined by her mother, former Gov. Christie Whitman, at a dinner in Scotch Plains
SCOTCH PLAINS - A familiar face joined 7th District Congressional candidate Kate Whitman as she trailed through diners along US-22 today, her mother former Gov. Christie Whitman.

"I thought I was done with this," the former governor said jokingly. Her public presence, only the second time in this campaign, lent a familiar face to voters who seemed to be caught off guard that today was Primary Day.

"I didn't even know she was running for anything," Cindy Soloway of Scotch Plains told PolitickerNJ.com, "What is she running for?"

When one diner asked Whitman who else was running, Whitman raised her right hand and swiftly rattled off the names of her 6 opponents, "Its me, Leonard Lance, Kelly Hatfield…" she continued, counting her finger tips.

Ideologically P. Kelly Hatfield isn't much different from her two most high profile opponents in the 7th Congressional District's Republican primary.

Like state Sen. Leonard Lance and former first-daughter Kate Whitman, Kelly considers herself conservative, but with moderate stances on social issues like abortion (all three are pro-choice, with exceptions).

It can be hard to stick out in a field of seven candidates when she doesn't have a 17-year record as a highly visible member of the state legislature, like Lance, or a political lineage going back 100 years, like Whitman. Nor has Hatfield staked a place out well to the right of her opponents, as Scotch Plains Mayor Marty Marks.

As 3rd Congressional District Republican congressional candidates Jack Kelly and Chris Myers hurl accusations of patronage and pay-to-play at each other, unopposed Democrat John Adler has been practicing uncontroversial retail politics: going door-to-door, standing with a veterans group and accepting an environmental endorsement.

While a crowded field of Republican candidates fights tooth and nail for that party's nomination in the 7th Congressional District - with the two highest profile candidates spending a good amount of time arguing over negative advertising - unopposed Democrat Linda Stender has been shoring up support at local Democratic events.

Both Democrats are running for open congressional seats that have been in Republican hands for years. During this particularly eventful Republican primary season, Adler and Stender have been able to sit on growing piles of cash as their GOP counterparts conduct opposition research that the Democrats could be able to use in the run up to the November general election - especially in the 3rd District.