Jon Bramnick

On the sidelines throughout a bruising GOP pAssemblyman Jon Bramnickrimary for U.S. Senate, Assembly Minority Whip Jon Bramnick (R-Union) today endorsed state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris).

"Joe has worked very hard in my district," said Bramnick, who had himself mulled a bid for U.S. Senate last year before opting out. "I have worked with Joe day in and day out for five years, and he is a very honest and straightforward guy."

A moderate Republican, Bramnick conceded that Pennacchio is probably more conservative on most issues. But ideology isn’t as important as character, in Bramnick’s judgement.

Sen. Kevin O'TooleHaving already been through mulling mode last year and concluded they wouldn’t run for the U.S. Senate in 2008, State Sen. Kevin O’Toole (R-Essex) and Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Union) both said today they would not likely change their decisions.

O’Toole flatly rejected the idea of his own run at this time, but said he would be happy if his colleague and friend, Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Morris), entered the U.S. Senate race.

"It’s family," O’Toole gave as the reason for his own decision not to run. "It’s the same reason I gave the national folks. I want to watch my ten and eight year olds grow up."

Assemblyman Jon Bramnick, Assemblyman Eric Munoz, Sen. Thomas Kean, and U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson soak in one of the speeches.

WESTFIELD - The word going into that first round of voting at the Union County Republican Convention on Saturday was that former Summit Councilwoman Kelly Hatfield and Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks would require a second showdown.

"This is going to a runoff between the top two candidates," said John DeSimone, commissioner for the county Board of Elections as he waded into the crowd of delegates. And that’s exactly how it went down at Westfield High School, where Hatfield eventually prevailed over Marks with 60 % of the vote in the Union County GOP’s pre-primary battle for the line in the 7th District Congressional race.

The Seventh district Republican congressional race saw some new – and in some cases surprising – endorsements this morning.

Today Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. will appear with State Sen. Leonard Lance to promote him to replace outgoing Rep. Mike Ferguson.

But Kean’s two Assembly running mates, Minority Whip Jon Bramnick and Dr. Eric Munoz, announced today that they are backing former Summit Council President P. Kelly Hatfield for the seat.

Both Kean and Bramnick were early frontrunners to seek the seat, but they declined.

Martin Marks, the Mayor of Scotch Plains, is interested in Mike Ferguson's congressional seatUnion County may not be a bulwark of Republican Party politics, but a chunk of it fits into a Republican-leaning Congressional district, and it is the home of at least two Republican politicians alert to a coming vacancy.

With the announcement earlier today that state Sen. Tom Kean, Jr., would not pursue retiring U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson's seat, Assemblyman Jon Bramnick emerged as Union County's frontrunner.

But he definitely has company.

Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks says he once told Ferguson that if the congressman ever moved up or retired, Marks would be interested in running for his 7th district Congressional seat.

Senate Minority Leader-designate Tom Kean, Jr. won't run for Congress in 2008
Tom Kean, Jr. has decided against running for Congress and will concentrate on his new job as Senate Minority Leader, according to sources close to Kean.  (UPDATE: Kean has announced that he will  not seek the Republican nomination for Congress in 2008.)

Republican sources say that Kean will support Assembly Minority Whip Jon Bramnick to run for the 7th district seat Michael Ferguson will vacate at the end of next year.

Union County Republican Chairman Philip Morin says he won’t seek the House seat being vacated by Rep. Mike Ferguson.

"I don't see myself as a candidate for Congress in 2008," said Morin, a former Cranford mayor who is a strong backer of GOP U.S. Senate candidate Anne Evans Estabrook.

If Jon Bramnick is talking about running, it could mean Tom Kean, Jr. has already decided not toAssemblyman Jon Bramnick was set to make a decision on whether he would run for U.S. Senate as early as this week. But now, with the announcement that Mike Ferguson will not seek re-election to Congress in 2008, Bramnick appears to have his sights set on that seat

“It’s hard to pass up an opportunity like this,” said Bramnick, who said he'll make a decision on whether or not to go for it tomorrow morning.

Bramnick said that he has received communications from within the party this morning via email and telephone asking him to run.

“I can’t understand why Ferguson is not running,” said Bramnick.

Gov. Jon Corzine campaigns in Atlantic City for Team Whelan on Sunday.

The Absecon Channel separates Brigantine from Atlantic City in this world of salt water and low-slung housing broken up by tragicomic human silos with names like Taj and Showboat.

But it’s all the same battlefield here in the 2nd district, where forces are mobilizing for Sen. (and Egg Harbor Township Mayor) James "Sonny" McCullough or Assemblyman James Whelan.

In Atlantic City, a second tall and bearded politician joins Team Whelan today in a senior citizens complex on Atlantic Avenue. It’s Gov. Jon Corzine, who knows seniors are a critical voting block, particularly in an off-election year like this, and he’s working the older crowd overtime with his best up-close-and-personal demeanor.

Anne Evans Estabrook’s announcement that she’s running for U.S. Senate may not come as a surprise to anybody who follows New Jersey politics, but its timing irritated one of her potential Republican primary opponents.

“I would have hoped that Anne would have put the interest of our party and the people of New Jersey ahead of her own political interests, and waited until after this election cycle,” said Assemblyman Joseph Pennacchio, who set up a U.S. Senate exploratory committee in September and is running for a state Senate seat.

Pennacchio said that Estabrook should have waited at last a few weeks to “pull the trigger” – that her focus should not be on her Senate campaign, but on helping candidates enmeshed in legislative, county and municipal races.