Mary Mochary

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.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will be the sixth woman to appear on a statewide ballot as a major party candidate in New Jersey.  The first was Thelma Sharp, a 32-year-old Democratic State Committeewoman from Vineland who was nominated to run for a two-month unexpired term in the United States Senate in 1930.  Millicent Fenwick, a four-term Congresswoman, ran for the Senate in 1982 (she lost to Frank Lautenberg), and Montclair Mayor Mary Mochary unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Senator Bill Bradley in 1984.  Christine Todd Whitman narrowly lost a bid for U.S. Senate in 1990 (to Bradley), and was elected Governor in 1993 and 1997.  In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro lost New Jersey as the Democratic candidate for Vice President.