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Monday, December 26, 2005

NJ-02: DCCC "Actively Recruiting" a Candidate

Posted by DavidNYC

New Jersey's second district is one of those places where we've just gotta compete if there's to be any hope of big Dem gains in the House next year. NJ-02 is currently represented by Republican Frank LoBiondo, who, like most incumbents, manages to win re-election by rather large margins time and again. But Bush carried the district by just 50-49, while Gore previously took it by a huge eleven-point margin.

Legislative aide and preacher Robin Weinstein is running for the Democratic nod here, but it would not be unfair to say that he doesn't have much name recognition. According to the Bridgeton News, though, the DCCC is "actively recruiting" a big-name candidate to run for this seat. The article says that the top two contenders are Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew of Cape May and Assemblyman-elect Jim Whelan of Atlantic City.

Scott in NJ (who deserves the hat tip on this one) makes the case for Van Drew. According to Scott, Van Drew already represents about a third of LoBiondo's constituents. And the first legislative district (which Van Drew serves) is also apparently fairly Republican, which suggests that Van Drew might have genuine cross-over appeal. As to Whelan, I admit I don't know much, but as always, if you have any thoughts, please share them.

One of the biggest difficulties with NJ-02 is that it's primarily served by the expensive Philadelphia media market. (See district map here.) In order for any candidate to have a realistic chance of breaking through, I think DCCC support is probably a must. Hopefully it'll happen.

UPDATE: Scott in NJ has gone and started a new blog devoted exclusively to NJ-02 called Second Thoughts.

Posted at 07:58 PM in 2006 Elections - House, New Jersey | Technorati

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Comments

I'm surprised the dKos story on this didn't have somebody bashing Rahm.

Typically that'll occur fast enough.

Posted by: RBH at December 26, 2005 08:32 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

I was skeptical on the "Philadelphia media" claim, and I checked and.. yeah.. half of the state is in the Philadelphia market, half is in the New York market. And there's one major network station physically in the state (and in the district), WMGM in Atlantic City.

Ideally, LoBiando, Saxton, Smith, Garrett, and Ferguson would all be in trouble. But Saxton's district may not tilt our way until he leaves. (It went 51/49 for Bush in 2004)

Posted by: RBH at December 26, 2005 08:45 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

RBH: If it had been front-paged, I'm sure it would have. But maybe people are finally realizing that all candidates are not created equal, and that just because someone filed first with the FEC does not give them the exclusive right to run in a given district. Or I can just keep dreaming.

Posted by: DavidNYC at December 27, 2005 12:43 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Rahmbo's mission to unleash "DLC fury" on "grassroots figures" is progressing at a good pace. Ha. ;)

Did you get to see this? (It's in the genre of "Rahm bad")

Of course, I'm not taking sides, but I don't mind pointing out how much Rahmbashing has been going on lately.

Posted by: RBH at December 27, 2005 02:02 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Although when it comes to Rahm conspiracy theories, this takes the cake. In this guy's POV, Rahm is backing Duckworth because he wants Roskam to win the election.

Posted by: RBH at December 27, 2005 02:14 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment