Steny Hoyer

In the 7th District, Leonard Lance and Linda Stender both brought the heavy hitters in today.

Lance had a fundraising luncheon this afternoon with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who yesterday raised money for Lance's 3rd District counterpart, Chris Myers.

Stender is having a diner sit down in Woodbridge with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who’s made at least three trips to New Jersey this election cycle, campaigning for for Stender, 3rd District Democratic candidate John Adler and 5th District candidate Dennis Shulman.

Republican Chris Smith is seeking his 15th term in Congress. He was first elected in 1980.: Getty Images Photo
An outraged U.S. Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-Hamilton) wants an apology from his Democratic challenger for calling him a bigot and for falsely charging that he concealed campaign contributions from two conservative Christian groups.

Democrat Josh Zeitz, a college history professor challenging the fourteen-term Congressman, released a video this week seeking to dispel the notion that Smith is a moderate. Yesterday he took that a step further, calling Smith a “bigot.”

Zeitz’s claims were amplified by an article in The New Republic, a left leaning magazine, which yesterday outlined Smith’s ties to what Zeitz called “religious-right hate groups.”

Today, the magazine retracted part of their story and, Smith says, apologized to him.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has bumped Dennis Shulman up a rung on its priorities list.

The committee announced today that Shulman has moved up from being a “targeted race” to an “emerging race,” which means that Shulman is a contender to participate in the organization’s “Red to Blue” fundraising program.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's PAC has contributed $5,000 to 5th district Democratic congressional candidate Dennis Shulman: Getty Images Photo
PARAMUS -- Sitting at a conference table at IBEW Local 164's headquarters with congressionalcandidate Dennis Shulman, several labor officials and two reporters this morning, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) was asked whether he planned to back up his visible support of Shulman with a significant amount of cash.

Hoyer, smiling, pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Shulman.

"Here's another $2,500. Talk is cheap, right?" said Hoyer. "It's not in the mail. It's in his pocket now."

It was the second $2,500 check that Hoyer's political action committee, AmeriPAC, had given to Schulman's campaign - something he said would be a taste of things to come if Shulman continues to run a vigorous campaign against three-term Rep. Scott Garrett in the fifth congressional district.

PARAMUS - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) seems to like the idea of former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley (D-Montclair) as Barack Obama's running mate - in a very non-committal sort of way.

"I think Bill Bradley was an outstanding member of the U.S. Senate, I think he's a very decent, value-centered individual. Obviously a very distinguished scholar in his own right," said Hoyer during a campaign appearance for 5th district congressional candidate Dennis Shulman.  "There's no doubt he could be president and many supported him fro president when he ran, so I think that would be a choice the American public would certainly respond favorably to."

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) will be in New Jersey today to stump for Democrat Dennis Shulman, who is challenging three-term Congressman Scott Garrett in the fifth district. The event is being held at the IBEW Local 164 headquarters in Paramus.

In a sign that national Democrats may actually believe that they have a shot at ousting Republican Rep. E. Scott Garrett, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) will join Democratic congressional candidate Dennis Shulman to meet with labor officials on Monday.

Shulman, a blind rabbi and psychologist, is running a long-shot campaign against Garrett, who’s easily beaten back three previous challenges from Democrats. But Shulman’s fundraising prowess and unconventional life story have raised eyebrows with national Democrats, who will likely make Shulman’s race their third priority after the 3rd and 7th Congressional Districts, where John Adler and Linda Stender are running for open seats vacated by Republicans.
In January, Hoyer swung through the state to stump and fundraise for Adler and Stender.

New Jersey Democrats keep talking about Bob Menendez for Vice President: Getty Images Photo

Hillary Clinton should pick Bob Menendez as her running mate, says Rep. Rob Andrews.  "I think Bob Menendez would be great for the job and I would love to see it happen for New Jersey and for him," said Andrews, a ten-term Congressman and Clinton supporter. 

The Menendez for Vice President campaign was launched last week by John F.X. Graham, a New Jersey Democratic fundraiser and Clinton’s national finance co-chairman.  Several key state Democrats have signed on as supporters of Menendez for a slot on the national ticket, and on Friday, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said that the New Jersey Senator would make a strong vice presidential candidate.   

• Conservative activist Steve Lonegan was arrested for protesting at Jon Corzine’s town hall meeting on Saturday.  Lonegan says the Attorney General retaliated by investigating him.
• During her campaign swing through North Jersey, Joe Ferriero endorsed Hillary Clinton. Clinton’s National Finance Co-Chair wants Bob Menendez as Vice President.
• A Quinnipiac New Jersey primary poll shows John McCain and Rudy Giuliani in a dead heat.        And McCain picked Bill Baroni as his N.J. campaign chairman.
• Leonard Lance says he’ll run for Congress, and Kate Whitman says she’s more conservative than her mother.
• The House Majority Leader supports congressional hearings on federal monitors and deferred prosecution agreements.
• Camille Fernicola is won’t seek a fifth term as Middlesex Freeholder, and Burlington Republicans pick Stacy Jordan as their new Freeholder.

U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wants congressional hearings on deferred prosecution agreements, like the one that netted former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft a federal monitor agreement worth as much as $52 million over the next eighteen months.

“I think that’s absolutely essential.  I think this administration has played fast and loose with the public dollars,” said Hoyer.

At the request of Rep. Bill Pascrell, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said earlier this month that he was likely to hold hearings on U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie’s decision to award lucrative no-bid monitor contracts to Ashcroft and others.