With four months to go before the election, Assembly Democrats have a nearly three-to-one cash advantage over the Republicans.

The Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee has $989,244 on hand to Assembly Republican Victory’s $334,429, according to reports filed yesterday with the Election Law Enforcement Commission.  

Democrats raised more than twice as much as Republicans last quarter, taking in $397,624 to the GOP’s $176,889.  

All 80 assembly seats are up this year, although only a couple districts at most are considered competitive.  The bulk of both parties’ money will likely be spend in District 1, where Democrats Nelson Albano (D-Vineland) and Matt Milam (D-Vineland) are expected to have a tough race against Cape May County Republicans Michael Donohue and John McCann.  

Democrats also have a large monetary advantage in the state Senate, where there is only one special election this year in South Jersey that is not expected to be competitive.  The Senate Democratic Majority has $927,699 on hand to the Republicans’ $442,333.  Democrats took in $132,675 last quarter to Republicans’ $101,468.

Last week's fight between Henry Waxman and John Dingell for chairmanship of the powerful House Energy and Commerce committee also featured a less visible battle waged by U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone -- only the latest in a series of moves to effectively position himself for a potential promotion to the Senate.

Soon after the election, Pallone joined Waxman's whip operation to take on the automakers' leading advocate in Congress in what appeared to be a long shot, unprecedented challenge to the seniority system. It was a gutsy move that paid off. His support was largely under the radar, but it's the kind of step that will get observers in Washington to take him more seriously.

Working against Pallone was Rob Andrews, who whipped votes for Dingell. Just as in his primary senate challenge to Frank Lautenberg, none of his colleagues from the state delegation backed him in that effort. Most insiders no longer consider Andrews a serious contender for Senate.

That currently leaves U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman as Pallone's most likely serious opponent for the seat. Rothman was an early supporter of Barack Obama and served as his campaign's Northeast Regional co-chairman, while Pallone was a high-profile Hillary Clinton supporter. But Rothman's greatest advantage may be that he hails from the 9th Congressional District which includes portions of Bergen and Hudson counties -- the Democratic party base.

SWEENEY AND KEAN MOVE TO BAN RAIDS ON WORKER FUNDS

TRENTON – Senate Majority Leader Stephen M. Sweeney and Senate Minority Leader Thomas H. Kean Jr. today said they want to authorize New Jersey voters to permanently ban raids on employer and worker-generated State funds which routinely get tapped for hundreds of millions of dollars annually during stop-gap State budget negotiations.

Senator Tom Kean Jr. (R-Union, Essex, Morris, Somerset) announced today his support for Bill Baroni for State Senate, saying: “I’ve worked with Bill Baroni for seven years and am proud to have known him for over a decade.