Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (Photo: YouTube)

Author, spiritual guru to the stars and New Jersey Republican congressional candidate Shmuley Boteach gave a $250 donation to his Democratic opponent, Congressman Bill Pascrell, because he wants them to have a Shabbat "dinner date." together. In a statement announcing his donation to his rival, Mr. Boteach explained he made the contribution to get Mr. Pascrell's attention after several unsuccessful attempts to arrange a meal together.

"I'm beginning to feel like the woman who is promised an engagement ring but can never get a wedding date. The Congressman is a very busy man. So I have elected to send a $250 donation to his campaign in the hope that it might attract his attention and we can finally confirm our dinner date," Mr. Boteach said. 

Mr. Boteach said he wants to celebrate the Shabbos with Mr. Pascrell so they can get to know each other on a more personal level.

“I asked Congressman Pascrell to join me for Friday night Shabbat dinner at my home so that he and I could discover each other as people rather than opponents. He publicly confirmed that he had accepted my invitation but, try as we might, we cannot get him to confirm a date," said Mr. Boteach.

Mr. Pascrell's spokesman Ben Rich tells us Mr. Pascrell has every intention of having dinner with Mr. Boteach--but he wants to wait until after the election in November so the meal doesn't become "a campaign public relations photo op."

"Congressman Pascrell has had a busy month with a major election, events in New Jersey and votes in DC," Mr. Rich said. "In keeping with the spirit of the invitation and preventing the dinner from becoming a campaign public relations photo op, the congressman intends to take the Rabbi up on his offer after Election Day."

(Updated 12:52 p.m. to include Mr. Rich's comment.)

Bill Clinton (Photo: Getty)

PATERSON, NJ -- At a re-election rally for Congressman Bill Pascrell this afternoon, Bill Clinton blamed the current media landscape for controversy over comments he made on Piers Morgan Tonight yesterday defending Mitt Romney's business background. In his appearance on the show, Mr. Clinton called Mr. Romney's work with Bain Capital, which has been the subject of several attacks from the Obama campaign, "a good business career." Mr. Clinton said his statements were inaccurately reported "as if I had virtually endorsed him."

"I just want to say one thing before we get into the meat of the coconut here," Mr. Clinton said. "One of the real problems that we have in modern politics today is that, instead of the news being reported, everyone is looking to create a story."

Mr. Clinton went on to say this media environment leads to statements being "distorted." He cited his comments about Mr. Romney's business record as an example.

"I said, you know, Governor Romney had a good career in business and he was a governor, so he crosses the qualification threshold for him being president. But he shouldn't be elected, because he is wrong on the economy and all these other issues," Mr. Clinton said. "So today, because I didn't attack him personally and bash him, I wake up to read all these stories taking it out of context as if I had virtually endorsed him, which means the tea party has already won their first great victory: 'We are supposed to hate each to disagree.' That is wrong."

Mr. Romney certainly appreciated Mr. Clinton's comments on Bain. According to Politico, Mr. Romney expressed his happiness with Mr. Clinton's comments earlier today.

“I think Bain Capital has a good and solid record. I was happy to see President Clinton made a similar statement … and called my record superb,” said Mr. Romney.

President Obama and Steve Rothman (Photo: RothmanForNewJersey.com)

Former president Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama are taking opposite sides in a heated New Jersey congressional race between two incumbent Democratic congressmen--Steve Rothman and Bill Pascrell. President Clinton is traveling to Paterson tonight to appear at a rally for Mr. Pascrell and, this morning, President Obama invited Mr. Rothman to a private meeting in the Oval Office where he expressed support for his campaign.

“President Obama asked me to come to the Oval Office today so that everyone will know that he supports me and wants me to help him with his agenda in his second term, as I have in his first,” Mr. Rothman said in a statement. “I sincerely appreciate President Obama’s support at this crucial time. It means the world to me to have him take the time out to speak with me this morning."

Paul Swibinski a senior advisor to the Rothman campaign discussed the meeting with The Politicker.

"President Obama told him he supports him and he wants to see him win," Mr. Swibinski said. "He appreciated his past support in 2008."

Senior Obama advisor David Axelrod has also endorsed Mr. Rothman, who was the only congressman from New Jersey to endorse President Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2008. Mr. Pascrell gave his support to Hillary Clinton in that race.

Mr. Rothman and Mr. Pascrell formerly enjoyed a friendly relationship, but the redistricting process thrust them together. Their race has been marked by a high number of negative ads.

(Updated with quotes from Mr. Rothman's statement 12:11 p.m.) 

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (Photo: YouTube)

Author, spiritual guru to the stars and Republican congressional candidate Shmuley Boteach says he wants to help his potential Democratic opponents who are currently embroiled in a nasty attack ad-filled primary battle. Mr. Boteach released a YouTube video today that appears to have been filmed in his living room in which he offered to help make peace between Steve Rothman and Bill Pascrell.

Messrs. Rothman and Pascrell are both current congressman and former friends who are running against each other after the redistricting process left Mr. Rothman with an unfavorable district. Mr. Boteach thinks he can help them "reduce the tensions that have totally overtaken their congressional race."

"I hosted a TV show on TLC called Shalom In The Home where I actually mediated families across the country creating greater harmony," Mr. Boteach says in his video. "I want to offer my services to congressmen Rothman and Pascrell to try to bring a more civil tone to their campaign."

Though Mr. Boteach says he's not interested in judging Messrs. Rothman and Pascrell, he seems to do exactly that in his video about their campaign.

"This is why Americans are tired of politics and why Congress has a nine percent approval rating. ... People are sick of the negativity," Mr. Boteach says. "Now, I'm not here to judge and I realize these guys have been in Congress for 16 years and they don't think there's any life outside of Washington, so they're going to hold on until you pry their cold dead hands away from that seat, but I'd like to help them a little bit and maybe mediate this."

Mr. Boteach says he's offering to mediate because, if he secures the Republican nomination, he will have to run against the winner of the primary between Mr. Rothman and Mr. Pascrell.

"I'm going to volunteer to help them in any way that I can because whoever wins this race is someone that I may have to run against," Mr. Boteach says as clips of Mr. Rothman and Mr. Pascrell's attack ads play on a screen behind him. "I don't want all of you to have to watch this. I want you to hear what we have to say about the important issues of our time."

Watch Mr. Boteach's video below.

Shmuley Boteach (Photo: ShmuleyForCongress.com)

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, the author, television personality and erstwhile spiritual guru to Michael Jackson, has raised $90,470 since starting his underdog New Jersey congressional campaign last month. Mr. Boteach announced his first quarter fundraising results in a statement today that also touted some of his big name backers; Birthright Israel co-founder Michael Steinhardt, coffee mogul Sunny Sassoon, conservative radio host Dennis Prager, Elie Wiesel's son, Elisha and House Minority Leader Eric Cantor, whose PAC gave Mr. Boteach $5,000.

"The substantial sum we raised in little over five weeks, since announcing my campaign, is evidence of the passionate desire on the part of Americans for a values-based campaign that dismisses divisive social wedge issues and focuses on fixing the family, combatting materialism and greed, and encouraging service and commitment on the part of America’s citizens," Mr. Boteach said in a statement. "I am humbled by the support we have gained with our message of dignity through self-reliance and economic renewal through personal accountability and entrepreneurship."

Mr. Boteach's fundraising left him with $74,190 on hand. Though Mr. Boteach has high profile donors, his potential rivals have more dollars in their war chests. Mr. Boteach is trying to score the Republican Party nomination in New Jersey's ninth district, which generally leans Democratic and. The redistricting process left a pair of veteran congressman, Steve Rothman and Bill Pascrell, battling for the Democratic nomination there and both Democratic incumbents have more contributions to their name than Mr. Boteach. According to a statement sent out earlier this week, Mr. Pascrell raised approximately $510,000 in the first quarter leaving him with $1,363,000 on hand. According to a spokesman for the Rothman campaign, Mr. Rothman raised about $540,000 leaving him with $1,790,515.97.

The gap between Mr. Boteach's fundraising and the Democratic incumbents' is to be expected since both men have been raising funds since coming to Congress in 1997 and their totals for the first quarter include the first three months of the year while Mr. Boteach only launched his campaign in mid-March. Though the fundraising gap is understandable, it's still illustrative of the uphill battle Mr. Boteach will face if he manages to secure the GOP nomination and face off against the winner of the fight between Mr. Pascrell and Mr. Rothman.

Both Democratic incumbents have been fighting a heated battle against each other complete with television ads that require an ample war chest. In a move that's perhaps indicative of the strategy Mr. Boteach may employ to combat his better funded rivals, he referenced and criticized their ad buys in his fundraising announcement.

"As two Democratic incumbent Congressmen assail each other with negative ads, we seek to build on the support we’ve received with a positive and inspirational message of values being the bedrock of American exceptionalism," Mr. Boteach said.