U.S. Senate

LAUTENBERG'S SUPPORT FOR 100 PERCENT CARGO SCREENING HARDLY 100 PERCENT

-- Senator Opposed Homeland Security Amendment Which Passed U.S. Senate 95-3 --

ZIMMER CRITICIZES LAUTENBERG FOR SUPPORTING PORK-FILLED FARM BILL

--While Senior Senator Flip-Flops On Farm Bill, New Jersey's Farmers Get Left Fighting For Scraps; New Jersey's Taxpayers Get Left Holding The Bag --

ZIMMER CAMPAIGN LAUNCHES AD “EMPTY RHETORIC”

- Lautenberg 24 years in the Senate and all he has to offer is empty rhetoric -

ZIMMER SAYS NO TO DRILLING

OFF NJ BEACHES

--Opposes efforts by President Bush & Congress to allow oil drilling off the NJ coast --

In one way, Republican Dick Zimmer’s Senate campaign against Frank Lautenberg looks remarkably like Rob Andrews’s ill-fated Democratic primary challenge to the incumbent Senator.

For the second week in a row, Zimmer held a press conference to challenge Lautenberg to televised debates – including two this month.  This time, Zimmer stood with State Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr., who engaged in two June debate with Sen. Bob Menendez during their race in 2006.

“If Senator Menendez could debate then, Senator. Lautenberg can certainly debate now,” said Kean.

But Zimmer’s campaign contrasts with Andrews’s in that Zimmer does not believe that Lautenberg’s age will prove to be his vulnerability.  When asked whether Lautenberg, 84, was too old to effectively serve another term in office, Zimmer said “No, not in terms of years.”

ZIMMER & KEAN CALL ON

LAUTENBERG TO DEBATE IN JUNE

-- Kean, Menendez campaign set precedent of early debates in 06’ race --

Trenton, NJ – Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dick Zimmer was joined today by Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean, Jr. at a Statehouse press conference. Zimmer and Kean called on Senator Frank Lautenberg to begin debating this month just as Kean did with Senator Bob Menendez in 2006.

A new Quinnipiac poll shows Gov. Jon Corzine with upside-down approval numbers: Getty Images Photo
Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan said that the Governor’s 38% approval rating in the Quinnipiac poll released today was “not unexpected.”

Corzine is undertaking some tough but necessary reforms in the state budget, Cryan said.

“The Governor has been dealing with the economic problems in the state. He’s not doling money out. We think that people ultimately are going to respect what we’re doing and it will put us in a positive position next year,” he said.

Nor was Cryan surprised by that the email controversy between Gov. Corzine and union leader Carla Katz, an ex-girlfriend, hasn’t stoked the public fury – despite GOP Chairman Tom Wilson’s push to make the emails public.

Patrick Murray, the Director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, has an interesting post on summer polling in U.S. Senate races that is a must read for campaign watchers.

ZIMMER CAMPAIGN RESPONSE TO

QUINNIPIAC POLL

So Democrats are split on whether Frank Lautenberg is too old to serve in the U.S. Senate until he’s nearly 91-years-old: in today’s Quinnipiac poll, 48% of Democrats say he is too old and 49% say he is not.  Those numbers don’t reflect the results of last week’s Democratic primary, where Lautenberg won a landslide victory over Rob Andrews, who made age an issue.