Dennis Hastert

Republicans will have a congressional primary in the twelfth district, where two candidates are seeking the chance to challenge five-term Democrat Rush Holt. The Monmouth County GOP organization is backing Holmdel Deputy Mayor Alan Bateman, while Ron Paul’s New Jersey campaign is promoting Dan Maiullo, who says he joined the GOP last November to support Paul’s candidacy.  Maiullo says he’s running to “help perpetuate the enormous energy harnessed by the Ron Paul campaign for President,” and wants to his campaign against Holt “as a platform for communicating his principles of freedom and limited government.”

In a solidly Republican House district in Illinois, Democrat Bill Foster won a special election to replace ex-House Speaker Dennis Hastert.  He defeated Jim Oberweis by a 52%-48% margin in a race managed by two onetime New Jersey political operatives.  Foster's race was run by Tom Bowen, who managed campaigns for Paul Moriarty and David Mayer in 2003, while the Oberweis campaign was headed by Bill Pascoe, who ran campaigns for Bret Schundler, Douglas Forrester and Nicholas Asselta.

Does Bill Foster’s victory in Illinois District 14 provide insight into the competitive U.S. House races in Districts 3 and 7?

According to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, it does.

A list of the Ten Worst Members of Congress released by Rolling Stone magazine includes no Representatives from New Jersey:

1. Dennis Hastert (R-IL)
2. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI)
3. Don Young (R-AK)
4. William Jefferson (D-LA)
5. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
6. Tom Tancredo (R-CO)
7. Dick Pombo (R-CA)
8. Curt Weldon (R-PA)
9. Hal Rogers (R-KY)
10. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO)