Chris Myers

Former baseball star Al Leiter said today that he will not likely run against Congressman-elect John Adler in 2010.

“I definitely have been curious enough to still be around the political scene… and my interest is there, while it’s stronger sometimes and weaker than others.  So that’s why I don’t ever dismiss the idea of running someday.  But I know I’m not ready now, and I’m almost certain that in 2010 I won’t be ready,” he said.

Some Republicans courted Leiter, a Toms River native who currently lives in Florida and works as a sports commentator, to run for in the 3rd Congressional District last year.  But Leiter said at the time that he’d rather get some local experience as an elected official, either in New Jersey or Florida, before running for federal office.

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Bill Layton and the Republican Party are trying to regroup after devastating losses in Burlington County last week, which the GOP county chairman said were the result of key Philadelphia ad buys by the Democrats, the economic climate and high turnout in the urban areas.

In the presidential race, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.) blew out Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in Burlington by 19 percent.

“We did everything we could have done,” said Layton. “The hard part about this is most times you can come away from an election say, ‘if only we had a little more money, we could have done other piece of mail here, another ad there.’ But just looking at the numbers, it’s hard to put in perspective things we could have done differently. It was just too much. The only thing I can say right now on the positive side is there won’t be a lot of excitement next year for Jon Corzine.”

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State Sen. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) won the 3rd Congressional district last night by performing particularly well in Burlington County and Cherry Hill, while keeping Republican Chris Myers’ margin of victory to under 12 percent in Ocean County.

In Burlington County, Adler beat Myers by over 16,000 votes, 79,846 to 63,497.  In Adler’s hometown of Cherry Hill – the only Camden County municipality in the district, he beat Myers by a huge margin – 20,077 to 11,322.  And in Ocean County, which Republicans were counting on, Myers beat Adler by about11,000 votes, 71,340 to 56,191. 

Combined, Adler won 51.6% of the total vote to Myers' 48.4% -- a margin of about 10,000 votes. 

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Medford Mayor Chris Myers, who’s running for Congress in the 7th District as a Republican, said that turnout is high in his hometown.  But, perhaps more importantly, he said it appears to be high in Ocean County as well.

“Ocean County is high, so that’s good news.  I think our message is getting through,” he said.

Myers said he didn’t have any specifics about the numbers, but high turnout in solidly Republican Ocean County does help alleviate Republican concerns that the bruise had still not disappeared from Myers’ primary against Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly.

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It's election eve, which means that it's time to journey up the Ivory Tower to hear what political analysts think will happen tomorrow.

The four analysts PolitickerNJ.com talked to today were unanimous in predicting a big win for Barack Obama over John McCain both nationally and in New Jersey, and were nearly certain that incumbent U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) would easily beat down the challenge by former Rep. Dick Zimmer.   

They were also unanimous in picking state Sen. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) over Republican Medford Mayor Chris Myers in the 3rd Congressional District.

Three out of four predicated that U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) would beat challenger Dennis Shulman in the 5th District, but by a narrow margin.  

Three out of four also felt that Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) had the edge in her race against state Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Flemington) in the 7th Congressional District, while one gave Lance a narrow victory. Read more at Politickernj.com >

It's election eve, which means that it's time to journey up the Ivory Tower to hear what political analysts think will happen tomorrow.

The four analysts PolitickerNJ.com talked to today were unanimous in predicting a big win for Barack Obama over John McCain both nationally and in New Jersey, and were nearly certain that incumbent U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) would easily beat down the challenge by former Rep. Dick Zimmer.   

They were also unanimous in picking state Sen. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) over Republican Medford Mayor Chris Myers in the 3rd Congressional District.

Three out of four predicated that U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) would beat challenger Dennis Shulman in the 5th District, but by a narrow margin.  

Three out of four also felt that Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) had the edge in her race against state Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Flemington) in the 7th Congressional District, while one gave Lance a narrow victory. more >

Much has been made of State Sen. Diane Allen’s (R-Burlington) lack of involvement in the tight 3rd Congressional race, where Republican Medford Mayor Chris Myers is running against State Sen. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill).

But while Allen is much more committed to State Sen. Leonard Lance’s (R-Flemington) Congressional race, which is far outside of her district, she said today that she’s still voting for Myers, and even personally donated $250 to him within the last week or two.

“I have sat down with [Myers] and any time he asked me any questions on strategy and along those lines I gave him my best bit of information,” she said.

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MEDFORD -- Former Massachusetts Gov. and presidential candidate Mitt Romney came to this quaint little one traffic light downtown tonight to help its mayor become a Congressman.

In a short press conference just before attending a private, $1,000 per head fundraiser for Chris Myers at a private residence in Southampton, Romney, recently founded Free & Strong America PAC, touted Myers a kindred spirit – a fellow businessman suited to carry on the legacy of retiring Rep. Jim Saxton, who was also present. Earlier in the day about 60 miles north of here, he held a fundraiser for state Sen. Leonard Lance’s (R-Flemington) congressional campaign.

“Chris is a person who has experience in the military sector, the private sector and the public sector,” said Romney, standing in front of a gazebo in a small park. “All three areas have given him the kind of perspective which gives him a unique opportunity to help the people of this district.”

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A poll released today by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) shows state Sen. John Adler (D-Camden) leading Medford Mayor Chris Myers by four points in their race to represent the 3rd Congressional District. According to the DCCC, the Grove Insight survey of 400 likely voters was conducted on October 2-3 and shows Adler leading his Republican rival, 38 percent to 34 percent, with 29 percent undecided. The poll has a 4.9 percent margin of error. "This poll demonstrates that the more voters know about Chris Myers' record of raising property taxes the less they like him," said DCCC regional press secretary Carrie James. "John Adler embodies the strong middle class values of South Jersey, and that's why his message is clearly resonating with voters."

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