Seventh Congressional District candidate Ed Potosnak won the backing of the Union County Democrats' screening committee Wednesday night, and secured the support of businessman Zenon Christodoulou, who removed his name from the running.

"I am honored to have Mr. Christodoulou's support and I look forward to working with him," said Potosnak.

In obtaining the backing of the Union Couty Democratic Organization, the former Bridgewater High School teacher and aide to U.S. Rep. Mike Honda (D-Ca.) chalked up his second straight endorsement from a county screening committee, having already notched Hunterdon.

“Earning the support of the Union County Democrats is a proud moment for me and our campaign," said Potosnak, who recently moved to North Plainfield. "I am honored to have the confidence of Chairman DeFilippo and the other esteemed public officials and members of the Committee including Assemblywoman Linda Stender and Majority Leader Joseph Cryan."

Union represents the largest concentration of Democratic Party voters of the four counties in the 7th District, where Potosnak is running for his party's nomination to face U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) in the general election.

After running solo for several weeks, Ed Potosnak encountered a 7th District primary opponent at the Hunterdon County Democratic Convention on Saturday.

But the presence of businessman Zenon Christodoulou on the landscape won't Potosnak's focus, he insists.

"There's a lot of uncertainty out there with the economy," Potosnak told PolitickerNJ.com. "Our plan for the campaign has been strong from the beginning. We're getting out there meeting with folks and reaching out to the party committees.

"That's not a game-changer," added the candidate, who narrowly defeated Christodoulou for the line in Hunterdon and is seeking his party's nomination to run against U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) in a historically Republican district. "Families are struggling. Our focus is on jobs and getting people back to work."

Bucking the cries of some party allies who have repeatedly told him now is not the time to run against U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton), Branchburg businessman and Democratic Party fundraiser Zenon Christodoulou on Saturday entered the 7th Congressional District race at the Hunterdon County Democratic Convention.

Hours after completing his doctoral dissertation in business, Christodoulou walked more or less cold into a head-to-head contest with Ed Potosnak of Franklin Twp., an aide to U.S. Rep. Mike Honda of California.

Christodoulou gained 45% of the vote in ultimately losing to Potosnak for the party's backing.

Sources say he has every intention of competing in his party's upcoming conventions in Union, Middlesex, and Somerset, where he serves as vice chair and has the enthusiastic backing of Somerset County Democratic Chair Peg Schaffer. 

Prior to screening in Hunterdon, Christodoulou, 45, sent a letter to County Chair Lois Zarish.

"I have worked for many noble causes, played a part in important political races and have dedicated myself to countless democratic issues," wrote the candidate. "I am honored with the progress that we have achieved; but, have become very concerned with the direction of our community and with the leadership which has come to represent us. For these reasons, I feel compelled to take a more pro-active role and seek elected office, myself."

OLDWICK - He drives a Ford Expedition with 240,000 miles on it, which he calls "Moose," owns a .16 gauge shotgun and a .30-06 - for deer hunting - and when he grips the hand of a supporter at his campaign kickoff at the Oldwick Volunteer Firehouse, the other man's face crinkles into a broad grin at the feel of calluses on the hands of David Larsen, owner of a windows and doors business, and a candidate for U.S. Congress.    

"I would never have guessed just a few years ago that I would be here tonight, making this announcement, making this commitment," declared Larsen, standing at a podium Friday night in the belly of the station house in front of a modest but animated crowd of 50 people.

"I also don’t think any of us could have predicted just a few years ago the challenges we would face as a nation or how our politicians would react to these challenges and how thoroughly they would disappoint us," added the candidate, whose businessman's Obama era outrage spills into his own party.

The GOP object of this long-shot, Tea Party-affiliate's disappointment is incumbent U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton), who served for three decades at the Statehouse before gritting through a Republican Primary in 2008 and then beating Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) 51%-41% in the 7th District general election. The moderate, pro-choice Lance's victory over Stender came two years after Stender had come within two points of upending the more conservative, pro-life former U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson.

"But the times have changed," said Larsen.

BRIDGEWATER - Businessman and Democratic Party fundraiser Zenon Christodoulou is considering a 2010 challenge to U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) in the 7th District, according to party sources.
 
"He would be a high quality candidate," said Peg Schaffer, chair of the Somerset County Democratic Organization. "He is a businesman and family man with a deep understanding of economics and trade and a personal committment to people and economic fairness."
 
"I think he would be a great candidate, to be honest with you," affirmed Manville Democrat Joe Lukac, a former borough party chair. "He's a very honest person with a lot of integrity. At this point, Leonard Lance doesn't have anything to say in his defence. He promised us $1 million in aid and delivered $150,000 to Manville this year. He's got a lot more to prove.
 
"The way I look at it, Zenon's a go-getter," Lukac added. "He's the type - like Angelo Corradino was when he was mayor of Manvillle - who if he can't get what he wants at the state level, he'll get on a train or plane and go to Washington D.C. to get it. Zenon's the type who wouild make a point of fighting."
 
Contacted by PolitickerNJ.com, the 45-year old Christodolou would say only that he wants to do "whatever he can to help the country."
 
Without commenting directly on a question regarding his interest in the 7th District Congressional seat, the self-described conservative Democrat said,  "I am fundamentally concerned with restoring America's greatness in the world.
 
"In my lifetime, America has been the leader of the free world, my family and I have personally felt that profoundly and I want to do whatever I can to help this country maintain its rightful place as a protector of freedom and opportunity."

Hoping to gnaw at what they believe is a soft GOP county underbelly ready to turn blue in the right circumstances, Somerset Democrats will bring in Newark Mayor Cory Booker this month for a fundraiser at the home of Somerset County Democratic Vice Chairman Zenon Christodoulou.

Republicans say it's not happening, no matter how much statewide starpower their rivals attempt to leverage.

"He's a Newark mayor and what does he have to do with Somerset County?" asked an unimpressed Bridgewater Council President Pat Scaglione, Republican candidate for freeholder here with incumbent GOP Freeholder Jack Ciattarelli.  "I want to talk about the issues."

SOMERVILLE - When President Barack Obama choppered into Holmdel and stood at a podium with Gov. Jon Corzine as flashbulbs popped, the event went down as a high profile rescue effort by the president of a governor for whom much of the Democratic Party was hitting the panic button.

Today, in a seeming effort to shake off the candidate in distress designation and himself come to the oratorical aid of a president whose own favorables have dipped since his appearance at the PNC Arts Center earlier this summer, Corzine sounded a note of defiant allegiance to Obama.

"Our president is under attack," Corzine told a crowd of 75-100 rain-spattered troops at the opening of the Somerset County Democratic Party headquarters on Division Street. "We need to send him a signal that we're with him. We're not going backwards, we're going forward."

While the governor is running nine points behind GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, the Christie campaign had a week and a half of negative headlines, which may have tightened the race.

"Everything is moving in the right direction," Corzine roared. "Let's keep it going. Things are moving in the right direction, right?"

PRINCETON - Branded an outsider early in his race with GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie, and the prodigal son of either Wall Street or Illinois, or both, Gov. Jon Corzine seized on the presence of 350 Greek Americans in Drumthwacket this evening to make his case as a New Jerseyan by choice. 

"Thirty-percent of people in New Jersey today are first or second generation immigrants," added Corzine, moments before signing an executive order creating the Hellenic-American Heritage Commission to be headed by Zenon Christodoulou, son of the late Dr. Chris Christodolou, a national leader in the Greek-American community for 30 years. 

"This state has always welcomed people who have thought of this place as one of oppportunity, who recognize the wonder of our diversity," said Corzine at an event where guests enjoyed Greek cuisine, folkloric dancing and a dramatic reading of Plato's Apology. 

Joining the governor onstage was former U.S. Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Maryland), a Greek-American who went to Princeton University and who has family ties to Southern New Jersey.

MARTINSVILLE – It looks like a joke at first or at least an appropriate back burner relegation for the Somerset County Democratic Party, which sits under a pizza parlor facing away from the road.

They don’t dominate here, haven’t for years, and that’s an understatement, but the little storefront plastered over with Democratic Party campaign signs belies the internal workings of what new party chair Peg Schaffer sees as a movement.

“I forgot how to practice law,” says Schaffer, sporting a “McBush” button and gulping coffee as she surveys headquarters where two dozen campaign workers stay on the phones.

Illinois State Treasurer Alexi GiannouliasDemocratic Party operative Zenon Christodoulou on Sunday welcomed Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias to Edison to campaign for presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.).

Statewide director of Greeks for Obama, Christodoulou described the 32-year old Giannoulias as a personal friend and protegee of Obama's, and a rising star on the national political scene who spoke at the Democratic National Convention. 

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) joined Giannoulias at Pine’s Manor to talk to 100 prominent members of New Jersey’s Greek community, which numbers between 80,000 and 120,000, Christodoulou said.