Chris Van Hollen

U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will be in two of New Jersey’s most competitive congressional districts tomorrow.

Van Hollen will make an appearance with congressional candidate Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) in the morning, and move up to the 5th District to campaign with candidate Dennis Shulman in the afternoon.

Joining Van Hollen for Shulman will be U.S. Reps. Steve Rothman (D-Fair Lawn), Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) and Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch).  The rally will take place at IBEW Local 164's Paramus headquarters. 

Shulman, whose race has long been watched by the DCCC, was recently bumped up to its top tier classification of candidates. There are few indications about which way that district is going, but those that do exist show it tightening.

It was a big night for State Senator/3rd District congressional candidate John Adler, who got to share the main stage at the Democratic National Convention with Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman (DCCC) Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and several other top Democratic House prospects.

It was a brief but powerful moment in the spotlight for Adler, who spoke one sentence in front of the crowd. 

“In a governmental, political sense, it meant a lot to me to be with people who together want to make a better, more prosperous, stronger America,” reflected Adler hours afterwards.  “And frankly, on a more personal basis, it was thrilling to me to have my wife in the front section, in the Illinois delegation, to take a picture of me.”

Joined by eight Congressional candidates, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) took the stage tonight in Denver and told Democrats that it's not enough to support U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). "For the change we need, we not only need to elect Barack Obama as our next president, we need to give him a robust Democratic majority in Congress," he said.

He then introduced the eight Democrats to the country, including state Sen. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill), who he called "a fighter for the middle class."

Chris Myers is on the Democrats’ list -- not only as a Republican opponent in the third congressional district, but as a potential donor.

Myers’s $500 donation to Democratic incumbent Sen. Frank Lautenberg early last year first touched off a press release from rival Republican Jack Kelly blasting him for supporting Democrats.

But Rep. Chris Van Hollen [D-MD], who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), hopes that Myers will share the wealth with House Democrats.

Van Hollen wrote a tongue-in-cheek letter to Myers today asking him to make a donation that would effectively work against his own campaign.

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chair Chuck Schumer reaffirmed his support for incumbent U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg this afternoon – and took something of a shot at Lautenberg primary challenger U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews.

“We believe that Frank will win the primary. His numbers are good, his popularity among Democrats in a poll we just made public is very high. In the northern part of the state, the northern counties, Frank is ahead, I think, 75 - 11. The Andrews people had thought they could get a few of those northern counties, but they don’t have a one. All 14 are with Frank,” Schumer said.

“So, you know, I think Frank will win,” Schumer added. “Frank has, you know, about double the money in the bank that Andrews has. We support our incumbents. Frank has done a very good job in the Senate, he’s active, he’s strong, and we think we will win. And New Jersey is blue. We don’t think the field of their candidates is as strong as ours. But we think Frank is the stronger candidate in both the primary and the general.”

Newly-elected Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Chris Van Hollen says that GOP Congressman Frank LoBiondo will be a top target in 2008. LoBiondo won 62% last year against Democrat Viola Thomas-Hughes, the former Mayor of Fairfield. While the second district has been trending toward the Democrats in recent years, LoBiondo is not likely to be in trouble -- unless Van Hollen and New Jersey Democrats can convince three-term Assemblyman Jefferson Van Drew -- a Democrat who runs exceptionally well in Republican areas of the district -- to run. Other possible candidates, like Assemblyman Douglas Fisher or Atlantic County Freeholder Alisa Beth Cooper, are not in Van Drew's league.

One potentially interesting candidate against LoBiondo would be Bridgeton native M. Allyn Brooks-LaSure, a politically savvy African American who has served as Press Secretary to U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and Governor Jon Corzine.

In North Jersey, some Democrats have been trying to recruit Summit Mayor Jordan Glatt to run for Congress next year against 7th district Congressman Michael Ferguson. Ferguson barely (49%-48%) won re-election in 2006, and his opponent, Assemblywoman Linda Stender, is reportedly looking for a rematch. Glatt, who announced his bid for re-election as Mayor of heavily-Republican Summit yesterday, is a favorite of Governor Jon Corzine (who lived in Summit for more than twenty years before his election to the Senate) and is also being recruited to challenge Republican Assemblyman Eric Munoz.