Rodney Frelinghuysen

DISTRICT 1

Ten-term incumbent Rob Andrews is seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.

Democrat: Camille Andrews, the wife of Rep. Rob Andrews, is seeking the seat her husband for eighteen years until deciding to challenge incumbent Frank Lautenberg in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary. She faces two primary opponents: Mahdi Ibn-Ziyardm, a social studies teacher and Camden Democratic Committeeman; and John Caramanna, who ran for the State Assembly in 2007 but withdrew from the Democratic primary. Bishop David G. Evans, a major religious and civic leader in Camden and a member of the Democratic National Convention Credentials Committee, dropped out of the race last week. Safe Andrews

Republicans: Rev. Dale Glading, who runs a prison ministry, is the GOP organization candidate. He races a primary challenge from Gulf War veteran Fernando Powers, a supporter of Ron Paul and Murray Sabrin. Safe Glading

Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen is hiring a new Press Secretary -- not an easy lift, giving the fast lane in which the Morris County Republican lives.  Check out the post on PotomacFlacks.com.

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen is expected to announce his endorsement of Joe Pennacchio for U.S. Senate today. 

Peter Frelinghuysen served in Congress from 1953 to 1975Peter H.B. Frelinghuysen, who represented New Jersey in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1953 to 1975, celebrates his 92nd birthday today. He is New Jersey’s oldest living former Congressman, and the tenth oldest in the nation. He is one of just ten living members of the House freshman Class of 1952 – which included current U.S. Senator Robert Byrd; there is no living Member of Congress whose service predates Frelinghuysen’s.

The Record's Herb Jackson wrote about 2012 congressional redistricting in his Capital Games column this week, noting a PolitickerNJ.com fantasy map that pitted Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen and Democrat Bill Pascrell against each other in a general election contest.  Jackson reported that Democrats would like to see Steven Rothman pick up Scott Garrett's portion of Bergen County and force Frelinghuysen into a primary with Scott Garrett after New Jersey loses one of its thirteen House seats after the 2010 census.

New Jersey is expected to lose a House seat after the 2010 census. That means PolitickerNJ.com and our readers have three years to create different redistricting maps that offer a multitude of scenarios. Here's our first:

This new district pits two incumbent Congressmen, Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen and Democrat Bill Pascrell in a general election campaign. The district is 46% Morris County, 43% Passaic County, and 11% Essex County. Note that the district only includes about 40% of Paterson.

Who wins?

Chris Christie and Jon Corzine as The HoneymoonersRead PolitickerNJ.com's The Year in Review 2007, our annual lists of Winners & Losers of the Year, Politician of the Year, Best & Worst Campaigns, People to Watch, Rising Stars, and much more.

The list of Best Operatives of 2007 is headed by Raiyan Sayed, who managed Jim Whelan's Senate race, and Tom Fitzsimmons, who ran the campaigns of Jennifer Beck for State Senate and Caroline Casagrande and Declan O'Scanlon for Assembly.

Find out why Rodney Frelinghuysen is tougher than he looks, why Don DiFrancesco doesn't shock us, how Joe Roberts made the worst prediction of 2007, and what Jim Devine, Gerald Lange, Malik Cupid, Chris Daul and Chris Thieme have in common.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM POLITICKERNJ.COM

You can’t get anyone on the record about it, but some prominent Republicans aren’t exactly happy about their U.S. Senate choices

“Ambivalent is probably the most charitable word you can use for what people say about the choices,” said one Republican elected official who wished to remain anonymous.

Although two factions of the Republican Party are represented in the upcoming U.S. Senate race – Anne Evans Estabrook as the moneyed moderate and Dr. Joseph Pennacchio as the risen-through-the-ranks former Reagan Democrat who will run on the right – some in the party feel that neither has the combination of deep pockets, name recognition and charisma that it will take to beat U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg in 2008.   

Multiple Republican sources also say that some county chairs are continuing the search and calling around to find new candidates. 

The death of Joseph Minish on Saturday leaves New Jersey with eighteen living former U.S. Congressmen:

*Peter Frelinghuysen, the 91-year-old father of Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen, who won an open seat in 1952 and served until his retirement in 1973. He lives in Morristown.  He is New Jersey's oldest living former Congressman.

Two U.S. representatives from separate parties today issued statements explaining their votes on the state Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

GOP Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen issued the following statement in explanation of his vote to sustain President George W. Bush's veto of SCHIP: