Stuart Rothenberg

In less than two weeks, two out of the three Republicans targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have decided not to seek re-election.

According to Stuart Rothenberg, Editor-in-Chief of the Rothenberg Political Report, that's got to hurt.  "Right now with a Democrat who just ran in a marginal district, in what could be a bad time for Republicans, an open seat only adds to the Republicans' headache," said political analyst Stu Rothenberg, Editor-in-Chief of the Rothenberg Political Report. "The retirement adds another layer of doubt to Republicans' hold on the seat"

The Rothenberg Political Report says New Jersey's 3rd district congressional seat is a toss-upU.S. Rep. Jim Saxton’s pending retirement has dramatically increased the likelihood of Democrats picking up the seat, according to Washington-based political analyst Stuart Rothenberg.

On Friday, after Saxton’s announcement, Rothenberg reclassified the status of the third district Congressional seat in his Political Report from “Republican favored,” the least vulnerable category for competitive races, to “pure toss-up,” the most vulnerable. But that could all change depending on who the Republicans recruit to face off against state Sen. John Adler.

“We thought it was going to be a race. We were waiting to see what kind of campaign Adler ran and what the environment was going to be,” said Rothenberg. “It didn’t seem like the best of opportunities, but now it’s turned out to be what could be one of the dozen best opportunities in the country depending upon Republican recruiting.”

National Republicans should think twice about devoting resources to challenge Sen. Frank Lautenberg, according political analyst Stuart Rothenberg.