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Because of his Hunterdon County base, Leonard Lance starts as the front runner in the Republican primary to succeed Mike Ferguson in New Jersey's seventh congressional district, but he faces a formidable challenge from Kate Whitman, the 30-year-old daughter of the former Governor, and from a pair of candidates from Union County.

Lance has two main problems: he's a horrific fundraiser, as evidenced by his inability to properly fund Republican Senate races after serving as Minority Leader for the last four years; and Republicans are worried that he lacks the ability to step up and run the kind of tough campaign the GOP thinks they need to hold the seat against Linda Stender in the General Election. 

PEAPACK-GLADSTONE - Kate Whitman has been in the seventh district congressional race three months now, but she made her formal entrance announcement today at a kickoff event at the council chambers nestled in the hills of her quiet, semi-rural hometown of Peapack-Gladstone.

The event was a family affair, attended by her mother, former Gov. Christie Whitman, her husband, brother and young twin sons, while a big portion of the audience was made up of young mothers with towheaded toddlers.

At this point in the race, with eight other candidates in the field, it's hard for the 30-year-old Whitman to claim momentum. State Sen. Leonard Lance easily won an endorsement in his home county of Hunterdon last night. The next convention is Union County, where Whitman concedes that the committee vote will likely be split between former Summit Councilwoman P. Kelly Hatfield and Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks. She's hoping that she'll be able to pull off a victory in Somerset, but that's not a given, considering that there are five candidates from the county in the race, while all three of its legislators have endorsed Lance.

But Whitman said that getting the county line isn't everything, and that she has no plans of dropping out, even if she wins no conventions.

"I'm in it until June," she said.

Joe Pennacchio won the Hunterdon GOP line by 7 votesState Sen. Joseph Pennacchio defeated businesswoman Anne Evans Estabrook to win the endorsement of the Hunterdon County Republican organization tonight. Pennacchio won 42-35, with Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin finishing third with 12 votes.

"I am proud to have the support of Hunterdon County's Republicans," Pennacchio said in a statement. "I know
that they stand with me on the most important issues facing New Jersey and
the nation."

The schedule for county organization endorsements in the 2008 Republican primary for Mike Ferguson’s seventh district House seat:

GOP congressional candidate Kate Whitman will formally enter the race for Mike Ferguson’s House seat tomorrow.  Her campaign says she will layout her six-point plan to “get America moving.”  Whitman, the daughter of former Governor (and PolitickerNJ.com unpaid columnist) Christine Todd Whitman, faces State Senator Leonard Lance and others in the seventh district Republican primary.

The race for the Republican nod to succeed Mike Ferguson in the seventh district is looking good for Leonard Lance – although that could change when he finally discloses how much money he has raised. The former Senate Minority Leader is the lone candidate from Hunterdon County, which has the largest percentage (38%) of Republican primary voters of the four counties in the seventh district. Lance will have the organization line in Hunterdon, where he appears exceedingly popular. If the field remains large – right now there are seven other candidates in the race – Lance’s plurality in Hunterdon alone should be enough to win the nomination.