On the heels of GOP power candidate Jon Runyan's announcement that he's launching his 3rd Congressional District campaign next Thursday, former Tabernacle Committeeman Justin Murphy announced his own kickoff date on March 27th at the Lake Pine Colony Club in Medford.

"I think Jon has the right and deserves the opportunity to present himself to the voters of the district," says Murphy, who earned 25% of the GOP Primary vote as a third place finisher behind winner Chris Myers and Jack Kelly.

"If Jon prevails, I would be happy to support him in the general election (against incumbent U.S. Rep. John Adler), but while he's been a registered Republican for three months, I've been a registered Republican for 30 years," Murphy adds. "We need more substance." 

The San Diego Chargers’ playoff loss to the Jets yesterday means that Chargers tackle Jon Runyan is about to shift into full-time campaign mode for the Republican congressional nomination in the 3rd District. 

But don’t expect to see him at Gov.-elect Chris Christie’s inauguration tomorrow.

“It’s highly unlikely that he would be able to attend the inauguration, because there are some obligations over there he has to fulfill first,” said Runyan campaign manager Chris Russell. “Frankly I think he would have been excited to do it.”

Russell said that Runyan, a Mount Laurel resident who has been living in a San Diego hotel while finishing up his career with the Chargers, still has some administrative issues to take care of with the team, including an exit physical, before he can hop on a plane back to New Jersey.  He is not expected to return until at least mid-week. 

“When he gets back we’ll sit down and (plan) things out,” said Russell, who was not sure when Runyan's first public appearance would be.  “He’s really focused on trying to get the support of all three county parties.”

Regardless of whether the Burlington and Ocean County Republican organizations go to war in the 3rd Congressional district, there will be a primary.

Justin Murphy, a former committeeman from Tabernacle Township in Burlington County who had a surprisingly strong showing in the 2008 primary, says he will definitely run again.  And he’s not cowed by Jon Runyan, the football star who the Burlington County GOP has recruited and already rolled out to seek the party nod to challenge U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill).

“Two words come to mind: Lynn Swann,” said Murphy, referring to the football hall-of-famer who ran as a Republican against Democrat Ed Rendell in the 2006 Pennsylvania governor’s race.  He wound up losing by 20 points.

“He was a good looking candidate, gave a good first impression, had some money, but was a disaster. That was an embarrassing double digit loss for the Republicans,” said Murphy.

Now that the gubernatorial election is over, Republicans in Burlington, Ocean and Camden Counties are starting to focus on recruiting someone to take on freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) next year. 

There is a deep bench of potential candidates, but some Republicans have one in mind who could clear the field: Philadelphia Eagles legend Jon Runyan, a Mount Laurel resident.

Sources tell PolitickerNJ.com that Assemblywoman Dawn Addiego (R-Evesham) - who knows Runyan because their children attend school together - has talked to him about running.  Runyan, who is not currently active in the NFL but has not retired, has not ruled out a run.  It is unclear, however, how serious the prospect is.

Reached for comment by PolitickerNJ.com, Addiego said "I don't think I'm at liberty to discuss that right now."

The leading contender of the more conventional candidates to take on Adler is state Sen. Christopher Connors (R-Lacey Twp.).  A little further down the shortlist is Assemblyman Scott Rudder (R-Medford), Assemblyman Brian Rumpf (R-Little Egg Harbor), Toms River Councilman Maurice "Mo" Hill and former Assemblywoman Virginia "Ginny" Haines.  One source said Lumberton Committeeman Patrick Delany has expressed interest.

With news that freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) has raised more money than any other incumbent in a potentially competitive 2010 race during the first quarter of 2009, it is worth noting that Republicans still don't have a candidate to challenge him in a district that they held from 1884 until 2008.  Adler beat Medford Mayor Christopher Myers 52%-48% for the seat of Republican James Saxton, who retired after twelve terms in Congress.

Adler raised $464,125 last quarter and has $426,587 cash on hand. Republicans think they can beat Adler next year, but the National Republican Congressional Committee sent signals earlier this year that they want the candidate in place soon so that he or she can begin fundraising.  That's what Adler did in 2006, before Saxton had announced his intention to retire.  If the third district Republican candidate does not meet certain early fundraising goals, sources say that the NRCC might not become fully engaged in the race, according to one House Republican staffer familiar with NRCC operations.

So far, one candidate has said he expects to run: former Tabernacle Committeeman Justin Murphy, who surprised political observers last year when he won 25.2% of the vote in the Republican primary for Congress.  Murphy finished third, just 37 votes behind Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly, who had the powerful organization line in Ocean.

New Jersey Republicans will face some pressure from the national GOP over the next few months to settle on their candidate to challenge freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) in 2010.  Adler won the seat of retiring twelve-term Republican Jim Saxton last year with 52% -- the first Democrat to win the seat since Thomas Ferrell ousted two-term Republican George Robeson with 50.1% in 1882.

Republicans think they can beat Adler next year, but the National Republican Congressional Committee is sending signals that they want the candidate in place soon so that he or she can begin fundraising.  That's what Adler did in 2006, before Saxton had announced his intention to retire.  If the third district Republican candidate does not meet certain early fundraising goals, sources say that the NRCC might not become fully engaged in the race, according to one House Republican staffer familiar with NRCC operations.

Former Tabernacle Committeeman Justin Murphy said today that he’s probably going to run for the Republican nomination in the 3rd Congressional District again in 2010.

“We’ve got to build a nice network and base. It’s a long time. A year from now we’re going to get serious about it,” said Murphy, who hopes to get the opportunity to take on Democratic Congressman-elect John Adler next time. 

Murphy surprised many political observers with his strong performance in the Republican 3rd District Congressional primary in June, in which he ran as an anti-machine candidate.  The race was thought to be neck-and-neck between Medford Mayor Chris Myers and Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly, while Murphy was considered by many to be an “also ran.”  But when the votes were counted, Myers won with 12,694 to Kelly’s 6,531 and Murphy’s 6,494. 

In the contest between two powerful Republican machines, Burlington County GOP Chairman Bill Layton was the easy winner over Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore in the race for Jim Saxton's House seat in the third district. Layton's organization gave Chris Myers 74% of the vote in Burlington -- a margin of about 5,000 votes -- while Gilmore's team delivered Jack Kelly a margin of just 44%-26% in Ocean County over Myers, with Justin Murphy getting 30% in Ocean.

Third Congressional District Republican candidate Justin Murphy is considered the long shot by most observers in today’s primary, but he said in an interview that he feels "very good.”

Murphy stressed the importance of his base – an alternative group of supporters in Ocean County. He told PolitickerNJ.com that if he doesn’t do well in Ocean County, his campaign will “be recorded as a nice try.” He explained that his strategy is to get enough votes out of Ocean County specifically to get the third he believes he will need to win. According to Murphy, the idea is to balance the votes between the Chris Myers and Jack Kelly campaigns, which he describes as “one machine versus another machine.”

Following the theme of the evening, he was uncertain what the low voter turnout meant. However, Murphy said that there was “such a mud festival between the two machine candidates” that “people got turned off.”