Walter Edge

With a 22-point lead in his bid for re-election, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning, Frank Lautenberg is likely to break two new records -- he'll become the first five-term United States Senator in New Jersey history, and he'll break his own record as the oldest person to ever win a statewide election in this state.  But there is one more record that Lautenberg could break -- the biggest winning percentage in a U.S. Senate race. That record belongs to Bill Bradley, who won 64.2% against Mary Mochary in 1984.  

Lautenberg could become the fifth Senator in state history to win more than 60% of the vote; if this is the last campaign for the 84-year-old Democrat, it's not a bad way to go out -- especially since Lautenberg has never passed the 54% mark before.  He won 50.9% against Millicent Fenwick in 1982, 53.5% against Peter Dawkins in 1988, 50.3% against Chuck Haytaian in 1994, and 53.9% against Douglas Forrester in 2002.

In New Jersey, incumbent United States Senators have rarely faced competitive primary challenges, and the only incumbent Senator to lose a primary was Clifford Case, a four-term Republican who lost 50.7%-49.3% to conservative Jeffrey Bell, a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan’s 1976 presidential campaign.  Case had faced primary challenges from the right before: Robert Morris, who had been Chief Counsel for Senate Internal Security Subcommittee headed by Joseph McCarthy, won 33% in 1960; and James Walter Ralph, a Bergen County physician, received 30% in 1972.

Arthur Foran began his career in politics in 1916 when he worked on Walter Edge's successful campaign for Governor. When Edge took office in 1917, he brought Foran with his to Trenton as his aide. When Foran's fourth son was born in May 1919, he was named Walter Edge Foran in honor of his mentor, who had just taken his seat in the United States Senate.

Arthur Foran went on to serve as the Mayor of Flemington and state Highway Commissioner, and in 1934 won a seat in the New Jersey State Senate. He served as Senate President in 1940. When he retired that year, his seat was won by Wesley Lance, the father of Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance.

Walter Foran, known as "Moose," served as the Hunterdon County Republican Chairman from 1961 to 1970. He was elected to the New Jersey State Assembly in 1969 and was serving in the Assembly Republican leadership when he was elected to the State Senate in 1977. He took the seat of Democrat Anne Martindell, who had been nominated to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand by President Jimmy Carter. Foran was described as an "old school statesman...an imposing figure with a congenial and persuasive manner and a quick mind." He was 67 when he died in office in December 1986. Richard Zimmer, then serving in the Assembly, won a Special Election to fill his seat.

Walter Foran's brother was red-headed "Singing Cowboy" Dick Foran, a well-known Hollywood actor in the 1930's and 1940's. Motion Picture Herald and Boxoffice polls conducted in those days showed Foran as one of the top ten cowboy film stars, along with Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. He appeared in movies with James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne and Shirley Temple. He died in 1979.

Tom Kean, Jr. continues the family tradition of losing a big primary and then winning one. His great-grandfather, Hamilton Kean, lost the 1924 GOP primary for U.S. Senate (to the incumbent, Walter Edge) and then won a Senate seat in 1928. His father, Thomas Kean, Sr., lost primaries for Congress (to Millicent Fenwick in 1974 by just 83 votes) and Governor (to Raymond Bateman in 1977) before winning the 1981 gubernatorial election. Kean, Jr. lost his first bid for public office six years ago -- a congressional primary against Michael Ferguson. Menendez also lost his first campaign -- a local race for Union City Commissioner in 1982.