U.S. Senate

If he's re-elected, Frank Lautenberg would be 90 at the end of his next term: Getty Images Photo
Three months after former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer held a press conference and said he would not make age an issue in his U.S. Senate run against incumbent Democrat Frank Lautenberg, Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson stood in the same State House conference room and brought the issue front and center, making repeated references to the 84-year-old Senator’s senior status.

“If you’re too afraid, too incompetent or too old to campaign, then you’re surely not fit for six more years in the U.S. Senate,” said Wilson. “It’s time to let voters decide whether you’re up to serving in the United States Senate until you’re 90 years old.”

Wilson called the press conference to attack Lautenberg for the way he’s run his campaign – or rather, his lack of a campaign.

Lautenberg, said Wilson, has been missing on the campaign trail, making only a public appearance here and there while giving the media little time for questions and refusing to accept one of the roughly 20 debate invitations that have been issued so far.

By not engaging his opponent or the voters on the issues, Wilson said, Lautenberg has brought attention to his age by raising the question of whether he really is up to the task of serving another six year term, at the end of which he’ll have just turned 91. He contrasted Lautenberg’s public schedule with U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.), 78, who although not up for reelection has been holding town hall meetings on behalf of John McCain in every one of his state’s counties.

U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy will not return to Washington D.C. when Congress reconvenes this week, choosing instead to work from Massachusetts, the Associated Press reports.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Hyannis Port)The Hyannis Port Democrat plans to return to the Senate in January.

"As Sen. Kennedy said two weeks ago in Denver," Melissa Wagoner, a spokeswoman for Kennedy, said in a statement, "he intends to be on the floor of the United States Senate next January when we begin to write the next great chapter of American progress."

Kennedy surprised his party with his appearance and speech two weeks ago at the Democratic National Convention. 

U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg’s attempt at humor – he told an ABC News reporter doing a story on lobbyists, corporations and labor unions spending $50 million at the Democratic National Convention that it’s his duty to check out their food and booze – has drawn the wrath of Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson. “Now it all makes sense. Lautenberg hasn’t gotten anything done as our US Senator because for the last 25 years, he’s believed his ‘duty’ was to be wined and dined by the special interests instead of creating jobs, lowering taxes, or tackling our dependence on foreign oil,” said Wilson.  “These kinds of statements are precisely why Senator Lautenberg is being sheltered away from the public view by his handlers.”  Click here to watch.

DENVER – As unlikely as it sounds, the former Mayor of Denver has raised a campaign issue in the New Jersey U.S. Senate race.

After praising Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s (D-Cliffside Park) help in securing funding to build the Denver International Airport in the 1990s in a speech to the New Jersey delegation yesterday morning, former Mayor Wellington Webb joked that a wing of the facility should be named after him.

That brought a harsh response yesterday from former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer, who called him “Colorado’s third Senator.” Zimmer has made his anti-pork credentials central to his Senate candidacy against Lautenberg.

Democrat Frank Lautenberg has a 50%-32% lead over Republican Dick Zimmer in the race for U.S. Senate, according to a Zogby International poll released today.  A Quinnipiac University released on August 12 has Lautenberg leading 48%-41%. 

The poll was conducted for Garden State Equality, a civil rights organization that advocates marriage equality and other gay rights issues.

Jeff Merkley’s campaign is hoping for six debates with Gordon Smith in the race for Oregon’s United States Senate seat, but Republican sources say they expect that number to be less.  The Smith campaign has told several GOP fundraisers that they are likely to hold only three – a number credible enough that it would make it hard for Merkley to attack the incumbent for not debating.  The first debate is set for October 8 and will be sponsored by KGW-TV and The Oregonian.

A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Republican Dick Zimmer within seven points of the four-term incumbent,  Democrat Frank Lautenberg (48%-41%), but it seems that the National Republican Senatorial Committee has already written off the former three-term Congressman.  In an interview with Dow Jones Newswire, Rebecca Fisher, a spokeswoman for the NRSC, said that Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu is their priority and “admitted the party had no other hopes of unseating an incumbent Democrat. 

U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Pendleton) leads Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley (D-Portland) among Oregon voters 47 percent to 39 percent, a new poll conducted by Rasmussen finds.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, left, leads 48%-41% in his bid for a fifth term.: Getty Images Photo
U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg has a seven-point lead over former Republican U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer, 48%-41%, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.

More than half of New Jersey’s registered voters – 55% -- say the 84-year-old Lautenberg is too old to effectively serve another six years in the United States Senate.  39% say he is not too old.

Frank Lautenberg has hit the magic number: he’s at 51% in a new Rasmussen Reports poll released on Wednesday. That’s the first time in Lautenberg’s 26-year political career that he has hit the fifty percent mark before Labor Day. He leads Republican Dick Zimmer 51%-33%.