CAMILLE ANDREWS

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- With U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews set to make a decision about his political future this week, Camden County Republican Chairman Rick DeMichele said that 1st District Republican candidate Dale Glading is “prepared and ready to respond.”

“Dale has been running a great campaign, because he’s been running it without an opponent. It’s helped the voters see that he’s focused on them and not a phantom opponent,” said DeMichele. 

Andrews left his ballot spot for reelection to the House to his wife Camille when he decided to mount a primary challenge against incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg.  Although just a placeholder candidate, Camille Andrews easily won that primary.  but Speculation persisted, however, that Rob Andrews to return to the seat, if he lost his primary against Lautenberg. 

It’s tough to get anything on the record about Rep. Rob Andrews’s replacement from Camden County Democrats. 

Sitting in the New Jersey delegation’s front row at the Pepsi Center tonight, Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden) cautioned that the news that Andrews is interviewing with Goldman Sachs still doesn’t mean he’s definitely not running again, despite his own repeated refusal to do so.

“I’m not aware that Congressman Andrews has made a decision.”

The word among South Jersey Democrats is that Donald Norcross, the brother of one of the state’s most powerful political insiders, will replace Rob Andrews in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Sources say that the decision to send Norcross, the South Jersey AFL-CIO President and the Camden County Democratic Co-Chairman, to Congress appears nearly final – but that party leaders have little incentive to call a vote to ratify that choice anytime soon.

Again and Again, Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) has said that he will not run for re-election to his House seat after challenging Sen.

Frank Lautenberg in last month's primary. 

But no matter how many times he says it, speculation - and in some cases hopefulness -- persists that Rob's name will be on the ballot instead of his wife, Camille, who is currently the Democratic placeholder.

Asked whether his promise not to run again was unequivocal, Andrews, who's held the seat since 1990, said, "Yes... as I've said since April." 

In an effort to put an end to the speculation, PolitickerNJ.com asked Andrews if he would write and sign a letter to the Clerk of the House stating that, effective January 3, he would resign his seat no matter what. Such a letter would be reversible, but it could further dispel rumors of Andrews's impending return. 

Andrews declined.

"It's not necessary or appropriate," he said.

The Fraternal Order of Police - New Jersey State Lodge (NJFOP) has endorsed the re-election of every incumbent Congressman except Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen, and is backing Camille Andrews, John Adler and Linda Stender, all Democrats, for open House seats.

First District Republican congressional nominee Dale Glading is not angry that he doesn’t know who his opponent will be in the fall.  Rather he’s upset at what he sees as a slight to the district’s voters by the powerful local Democratic Party.

Glading is officially running against attorney Camille Andrews, who took over the candidacy from her husband, Rep. Rob Andrews, when he decided to run a primary challenge against U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg.  But Camille Andrews has acknowledged that she’ll step down if asked by party leadership, although there’s a possibility that she’ll stay in the race.    

“The voters in the first congressional district are being shortchanged,” said Glading.  “Mrs. Andrews, who is the placeholder, I don’t believe be a serious candidate, because she’s not acknowledging, let alone accepting, our debate invitations.”

1st District congressional candidate Camille Andrews doesn't seem as enthusiastic about debating her opponent as her husband, outgoing Rep. Rob Andrews, was in the Democratic Senate primary against Frank Lautenberg.

Long shot Republican candidate Dale Glading issued a debate challenge to Camille Andrews on June 5th, asking her to respond by Friday, June 13th. But as of yesterday, Glading still hadn’t received a reply from Andrews.

Andrews is running as a placeholder candidate for the seat her husband vacated to run in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary. Party leaders are expected to choose a replacement for Andrews before the general election in November. Among the top prospects to replace her are Assemblyman John Burzichelli and state Sen. Dana Redd.

When he was a U.S. Senate candidate, Rob Andrews was a big fan of debates -- and so if Dale Glading, the Republican who wants to succeed him in the House of Representatives.  Glading has called on his Democratic opponent – who for now, at least officially is Camille Andrews, the wife of the outgoing incumbent – to join him for a series of six debates.  Glading wants the first one in June.   But there’s no sign that Camille Andrews shares her husband’s affinity for debating; her campaign manager, Benjamin Parvey, hasn’t returned calls seeking comment.

South Jersey Democrats are in no great rush to designate a candidate for the first district congressional seat Rob Andrews gave up to campaign for the United States Senate – and they don’t have to be.  Placeholder Camille Andrews, the winner of the Democratic primary for the seat her husband has held for eighteen years, is under no obligation to drop out – and she could wait until very early in October to withdraw (note Angelo’s Law, the Supreme Court ruling that allowed Democrats to nominate Frank Lautenberg when Bob Torricelli dropped out of the race five weeks before the 2002 general election).  That gives Rep. Andrews quite a while to decide if he wants to return to the House, or who George Norcross wants to send to Congress.

Camille Andrews appears to have easily won the Democratic nomination for Congress in the first district, a seat her husband, Rob Andrews, is giving up after eighteen years to run for U.S. Senate. The deal was supposed to be that Andrews was a stand-in candidate until party leaders can agree upon a replacement. Now, with Rob Andrews running behind incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg, the Congressman must decide whether he’ll actually retire for Congress, or change his mind.