April 2, 2008 - 11:14am

Facing an uncertain opponent, 1st district Republicans stay with Glading

If U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews decides to run for Senate and the first congressional district suddenly becomes an open seat, Republicans will stick with their man: Dale Glading.

Glading, a Christian minister from Barrington who founded the a prison program that offers Bible correspondence courses, jumped into the race when it looked like even more of a long shot against Andrews, who has held the seat since 1990.  Since then, he’s won the backing of the Republican organizations from all three of the district’s counties: Camden, Gloucester and Burlington. 

“Dale Glading is our guy.  Make no mistake about it,” said Camden County Republican Chairman Rick DeMichele.  “I’ve been helping Dale and I’m very impressed with his ability to reach out to people and get his message across. He’s gotten the endorsement of all three counties, and I can’t imagine a situation where we wouldn’t want him to be our guy.”

Even if the seat opens up, however, Glading will have an uphill battle in this district where Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans.  In 2004, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry beat President George W. Bush in the district, 61%-39%.  In 2000, Democrat Al Gore beat Bush there by 63%-37%.