Charles Rangel

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 >

Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) 

Republican State Committee Chairman Tom Wilson today joined the GOP chorus demanding that Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) return contributions from U.S. Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-Harlem) following publication of a New York Times story this week detailing sweetheart deals the congressman received on four Harlem apartments.

"Linda Stender has filled her campaign coffers with over $20,000 in contributions from Charlie Rangel and plans to accept even more as a recipient of his annual birthday fund-raiser at New York’s swank Tavern on the Green restaurant scheduled for August 6th," Wilson said.

"Stender likes to tell everyone how she's not a typical politician and that she will stand up to Washington corruption but unless she returns the $21,000 from Rangel and his political action committee that's fueling her campaign and remove her name for his up coming fund-raiser, she just proves that she is another typical double-talking politician that's incapable of changing Washington," added the GOP chairman.

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Fox News reported early this morning that Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Belfair) was one of three House Democrats, along with New York's Rep. Charles Rangel and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), to convince Hillary Clinton to suspend her campaign for president later this week.

At the time of the conversation Wednesday, Dicks was still a supporter of Clinton's candidacy. Then this morning, he announced that he was backing Barack Obama in the spirit of party unification.

"It's time to move on," Dicks told McClatchy's Les Blumenthal. "We need to unify the party," Dicks said. "Whatever differences we have among ourselves, they pale in comparison to those we have with John McCain."

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