NJ-07

U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will be in two of New Jersey’s most competitive congressional districts tomorrow.

Van Hollen will make an appearance with congressional candidate Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) in the morning, and move up to the 5th District to campaign with candidate Dennis Shulman in the afternoon.

Joining Van Hollen for Shulman will be U.S. Reps. Steve Rothman (D-Fair Lawn), Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) and Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch).  The rally will take place at IBEW Local 164's Paramus headquarters. 

Shulman, whose race has long been watched by the DCCC, was recently bumped up to its top tier classification of candidates. There are few indications about which way that district is going, but those that do exist show it tightening.

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Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney will both be making fundraising appearances in New Jersey this week, according to a report in the Star-Ledger.

Clinton will be here today to raise money for Assemblywoman Linda Stender’s (D-Fanwood) congressional bid, while Romney is coming sometime later this week to help her opponent, state Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Flemington) with his campaign, according to a report in the Star-Ledger.

The report does not say whether Clinton or Romney will make any public campaign stops for the candidates.

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In July, 2005, Acting Gov. Dick Codey appointed Assemblywoman Linda Stender to the New Jersey State Employment and Training Commission.

Since then, the commission has held 13 meetings at Rutgers University’s Piscataway campus -- 12 miles from Stender’s hometown of Fanwood.  Stender, who’s still a member of the commission, has not attended a single one of them. 

The position is unpaid, and other board members sometimes skipped meetings as well, although few as consistently as Stender.  But her opponent for the 7th Congressional District seat, State Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Flemington), argues that she didn’t do the job that was asked of her – especially in light of the nation’s economic crisis. 

“When elected officials commit to doing a job, they are expected to do it. Clearly Assemblywoman Stender failed to show up and do the job asked of her,” he said. “With our economy in crisis and unemployment rising, the work of the State Employment and Training Commission is more important that ever, so it’s extremely unfortunate that Linda Stender failed to attend a single Commission meeting.”

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GREEN BROOK -- The idea has dogged State Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Flemington) since he started his congressional campaign in the 7th District: that he's well respected as a policy wonk, but doesn't have the political wherewithal to run a federal race in a fiercely competitive district.

Lance's critics found evidence of that claim when they saw that he had only $80,000 cash on hand at the end of the last reporting period to rival Linda Stender's (D-Fanwood) $1.2 million.

Today, Lance acknowledged that some of his supporters were taken aback by the anemic war chest, but noted that he's raised a lot of money since the June 30th filing deadline - which occurred just 26 days after Lance blew his war chest against a well-funded primary campaign by Kate Whitman and five other candidates.

Lance said that he doesn't know how much he's raised since then, but that he's certain it's "more than $100,000."  He also has six fundraisers scheduled over the coming months, and will stay home to campaign and raise money during the Republican National Convention in September.

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Linden Mayor Richard Gerbounka has endorsed John McCain for President, but declined to say who he would support for Congress in the hotly contested seventh district race between Democrat Linda Stender and Republican Leonard Lance.  Part of Linden is in the seventh.  Gerbounka was a Democratic Councilman until launching an Independent bid to unseat longtime Mayor John Gregorio in 2006.

Back in 1984, another Democratic Mayor from Union County endorsed a GOP presidential candidate.  In a much heralded announcement, Ronald Reagan won the backing of Thomas Dunn, who spent 28 years as the Mayor of Elizabeth.  That year, Reagan beat Walter Mondale in Elizabeth by nearly 4,000 votes, 56%-44%.  Reagan carried Linden by slightly less than 2,000 votes, also 56%-44%.  In other Democratic Union County strongholds, Reagan won Rahway by almost 2,000 votes (58%-42%), but lost Plainfield by almost 7,000 votes, 72%-28%.  But Reagan had no coattails: Democrat Bill Bradley, seeking a second term in the United States Senate, carried Elizabeth, Linden, Rahway and Plainfield by wide margins.

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The Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) seems confident that Democrats will pick up two House seats in New Jersey this year, but stopped short of promising financial help to Dennis Shulman, a blind Rabbi who is challenging Rep. Scott Garrett in the 5th district.

"The closer we got to Election Day the more opportunities developed. Sometimes as you get closer some fall off the list. The last time we went through this in 2006, the closer we got to voting day the more competitive," said Rep. Christopher Van Hollen (D-Md.) in a conference call with reporters today.

The DCCC's third priority in New Jersey is Shulman, who has raised a lot of money for a challenger in a long-shot district, and whose unique personal story has recently drawn national media attention from publications like Time, Newsweek and The New Yorker.

"The short answer is that we're very impressed with what they've done and we see that campaign on an upward trajectory," he said. more >

State Sen. Leonard Lance’s congressional campaign yesterday questioned why his Democratic rival, Assemblywoman Linda Stender, was so quick to give her campaign donations back to former Assemblyman Neil Cohen, but has kept larger donations from U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.).

Rangel has faced scrutiny for leasing four rent stabilized apartments in his Harlem home district—one of which he uses as a campaign office and pays for with campaign funds.  Cohen resigned from his Assembly seat on Monday amid allegations that he had child pornography on a legislative office computer. 

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In the race for Congress in New Jersey’s 7th district, the Republican candidate trails an independent in cash on hand.   State Sen. Leonard Lance has just $80,792 in his war chest, as of his most recent Federal Election Commission filing, and Michael Hsing, a Republican Councilman from Bridgewater who briefly challenged Lance for the GOP nomination and is now running as an independent, has $91,637.  Democrat Linda Stender, a State Assemblywoman, has $1.2 million in the bank.

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Voters of the 3rd and 7th Congressional Districts: meet Captain B.J. Hunnicutt.

Blue Jersey reports that a several liberal bloggers have commissioned a retaliatory robocall aimed at two congressional districts in New Jersey that were targeted with calls by Freedom’s Watch, a conservative advocacy group.

The call by Freedom’s Watch blames Democratic congressional candidates John Adler and Linda Stender, both state legislators, for doing nothing to repeal the state’s 14 cent gas tax.

New Jersey has the third lowest gas tax in the country.

The blogger-commissioned call stars actor Mike Farrell, who played the character B.J. Hunnicutt in M*A*S*H, associated the group with the Bush Administration.

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Two Democratic state lawmakers running for Congress are being targeted by a new series of robocalls about gas prices from Freedom’s Watch, the conservative-leaning advocacy group. The calls, which will begin today, will go out to residents represented by Assemblywoman Linda Stender and Sen. John Adler.

“Hi, this is an emergency gas price alert from Freedom’s Watch. Did you know New Jersey gas taxes add more than 14 cents to every gallon of gas? 14 cents!” an announcer intones on the calls going out to voters in Stender and Adler’s districts. The call then asks what Stender and Adler are doing to address the issue. “Nothing,” announcer says.

“If we can’t depend on Linda Stender to stand up for us today, when can we count on her?” asks the call targeting Stender.

The robocalls will be going out to homes throughout the week. It is the fourth set of calls Freedom’s Watch has released slamming Democratic House incumbents and candidates. The organization just wrapped up its first radio advertisement campaign targeting Democratic incumbents.

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