Steve Rothman

There is little doubt that Congressman Steve Rothman has become a major guy in Barack Obama’s campaign.  So if Obama were to win the presidency, it’s not crazy to view Rothman as a possible candidate for appointment to a major executive branch post  -- eight of the last nine presidents (Lyndon Johnson was the exception) named sitting Members of Congress to cabinet posts. 

The two Democrats running for the U.S. Senate spent Memorial Day on the campaign trail, marching in parades in northern New Jersey.

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews today described the small Memorial Day parade in the tiny working class town of Wood-Ridge today as reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell painting.

About 20 miles north, in Bergenfield, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg spent part of his day in a town that much less resembles a Norman Rockwell painting: Bergenfield, where the 84-year-old World War II veteran energetically marched in a much larger, more ethnically diverse crowd at its Memorial Day parade.

Just days before the May 13 municipal elections, Teaneck Councilwoman Monica Honis seems to be getting a pass from some leaders of the Jewish community, despite a controversial comment that week suggesting that re-electing her without also supporting her two running mates was akin to sending her “to the gas chamber.”  Rebecca Kaplan Boronson, the editor of the New Jersey Jewish Standard, told PolitickerNJ.com that she had no comment on the controversy.  Boronson wrote an editorial last month suggesting that a political cartoon may have intentionally sent a subliminal anti-Semitic message.  Two others who criticized the cartoon, Rep. Steve Rothman and the New Jersey Anti-Defamation League, did not return calls seeking comment on Honis’ statement.

This week's PolitickerNJ.com Winners & Losers:

Barack Obama made an appearance on the floor of the U.S.  House of Representatives today, and was escorted by Rep. Steve Rothman – a very public demonstration of Rothman’s clout with the leading presidential candidate.  Rothman, a Bergen County Democrat, won a power struggle for control of Obama’s New Jersey campaign earlier this year, and played a key role in holding the endorsement of the Bergen County Democratic Organization for Frank Lautenberg last month.

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

Democratic Rep. Steve Rothman is soliciting GOP congressional candidate Christopher Myers for a contribution to his re-election campaign. Noting that Myers said he wrote a $500 personal check to Sen. Frank Lautenberg's re-election campaign because they share similar views on Israel. Rothman says he also has a strong record supporting Israel.

Don't forget to vote in this week's Cartoon Caption Contest. The deadline is this Friday at noon.

New Jersey’s Democratic Congressional delegation issued a scathing statement on Rob Andrew’s Senate candidacy today, saying that he broke his pledge to fully support incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg for reelection and that his conduct has been “both outrageous and unacceptable."

Six of the state’s seven Democratic Congressmen -- Frank Pallone, Bill Pascrell, Steve Rothman, Rush Holt, Albio Sires and Donald Payne -- co-signed the statement, in which they called on their Democratic colleague to drop his candidacy.

"It is now clear that Congressman Rob Andrews has failed to gain thenecessary support to realistically compete in this race, and therefore, we urge Congressman Andrews to end his campaign,” they said.

The congressmen, four of whom are interested in succeeding Lautenberg some day, also argued that Andrews’s primary challenge will weaken the eventual Democratic nominee against his Republican challenger.