Linda Stender

Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood)

The Sierra Club plans to highlight what the group sees as Assemblywoman Linda Stender's (D-Fanwood) environmental record with a primary season endorsement of the 7th Congressional District candidate.

"It's very specifically a primary endorsement," said the organization's executive director Jeff Tittel, a day before his press conference with Stender in Flemington. "We'll wait to endorse for the general election."

Although the assemblywoman has the full organizational backing of her party and is not in a primary contest, "We felt Linda deserved recognition now," Tittel said. 

Democratic congressional candidate John AdlerJohn Adler is the richest open seat congressional candidate in the nation, according to a report from Congressional Quarterly.

Adler, a Democrat, has approximately $1 million on hand in his quest for the open seat of retiring Republican Rep. Jim Saxton. Adler is unchallenged in the June 3rd Democratic primary, while three Republicans are enmeshed in a tough primary fight to take him on.

Meanwhile, 7th district Democratic candidate Linda Stender is the fourth richest open seat challenger, with about $845,000 on hand. Stender also faces no opposition in the primary, but there are seven Republicans competing for that party’s nomination, the richest of whom has amassed a little over one-third of Stender’s war chest.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), left, and Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union). 

FANWOOD - Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union) flexed her party muscles today as she toured a senior care facility here with chief deputy whip in the U.S. House, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), and defended herself against attacks from prospective general election rivals.

Stender, the Democrats’ nominee in the 7th District Congressional District, and Wasserman Schultz, co-chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red to Blue program, underscored their commitment to universal health care, Medicare and Social Security.

“We need to elect someone with a conscience, who understands that health care should be a high priority,” said Wasserman Shultz, sitting with Stender in the parlor of the Chelsea at Fanwood. “That’s why I’m here, to highlight Linda’s promising candidacy.”

Gearing up for her own general election run in the 7th congressional District, Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union) stays out of the Obama-Clinton fracas.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), co-chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, joins Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Union) in Stender's 7th District Congressional run.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg addresses the crowd as Gov. Jon Corzine looks on.

TRENTON -- Burnishing his blue collar roots and seniority in Washington, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg today launched his re-election bid at the Trenton Marriott, promising to lead the fight for New Jersey's working families.

"I will build on my work of the last few years, to stand strong against those who attack our values that short change our state and to deliver the results that improve people's lives," said Lautenberg, who was first elected to the Senate in 1982.

On the day President George W. Bush visited a credit counseling service center in Freehold to address a national housing crisis, Democratic candidates for Congress seized the opportunity to denounce what they see as Bush’s failed economic policies.

"With about 3.5 million foreclosure filings since 2006, the Federal Reserve banks estimates that 2 million more are on the way over the next two years," said Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. "Meanwhile, new homes sales are at their lowest point in 13 years tumbling 40.6 percent in the Northeast alone. The President's short term foreclosure 'timeout' is a band-aid approach that does nothing to stimulate the economy or increase homeownership."

Thomas Roughneen

WATCHUNG - In a crowded field of Republican candidates in the 7th Congressional district, longshot Thomas Roughneen highlights his background as an Iraq War veteran and son of Irish immigrants.

Honor and sacrifice are words he uses often.

Although an admirer of President George W. Bush, the 38-year old former assistant prosecutor from Watchung does not believe the administration put Americans on the proper war footing for a protracted conflict in the Middle East.

U.S. Rep. Frank PalloneATLANTIC HIGHLANDS - Buffeted by a Republican majority in Congress through most of the Bush years, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6) told Monmouth County Democrats at the Shore Casino in Atlantic Highlands on Saturday that it is critical for his party to pick up more seats in the House and Senate.

"But the most important thing is the presidency," said Pallone. "This president has just completely screwed up."

The congressman said the country is in an economic downturn as a direct result of the Bush administration’s policies, and lamented America’s loss of respect around the world as a consequence of the War in Iraq, which Pallone opposed from the beginning.

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.