ROB ANDREWS

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U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is expected to receive substantial support from New Jersey Congressmen in his bid for House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman

Today, in his first major vote as an incoming member of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Adler is expected to support Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) for Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, according to sources with close ties to Camden County Democrat.  Waxman is challenging longtime chairman John Dingell, an 82-year-old Michigan Democrat who has served in Congress since 1955. 

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.), a Congressman since 1955, has the backing of New Jersey's Rob Andrews

Two New Jersey Congressmen are at opposite ends of a intra-party battle for the the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of the most powerful posts in Congress.  Rob Andrews is working for incumbent John Dingell, an 82-year-old Michigan Democrat who has served in Congress since 1955.  Frank Pallone, who is chairman of the Health Subcommittee, is part of the whip team for Dingell's challenger, Henry Waxman, 69, an 18-term Congressman from California who is the second ranking member of the panel.  Today, Waxman won the support of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, defeating Dingell 25-22.  The full House Democratic conference will pick between the two on Thursday.

The Energy and Commerce Committee oversees legislation on health care, climate change regulations, and good and drug regulations.  Dingell has staunchly opposed Waxman's efforts to impose more stringent fuel efficiency standards on Michigan automakers.

Rob Andrews will return for his eleventh term in Congress next year, and after losing two statewide races, it's unclear whether the last will be the final one.

Andrews ran a close second in the 1997 Democratic gubernatorial primary against James E. McGreevey, was passed over to succeed Gov. Corzine in the Senate, and mounted a primary challenge against incumbent U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg this year, only to lose by 25 percentage points. But despite those three dispiriting defeats, he still won't rule out the possibility of another statewide run some day, and prefers not to speculate on whether the last one hurt his prospects.

"That's really not for me to decide. That's for voters to decide and leaders of the party," said Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) in a phone interview yesterday.

Political insiders acknowledge that there are a thousand lives in politics, but see Andrews's defeat as being particularly hard to crawl back from - and not just because of the lopsided margin.

Rev. Dale Glading, with his wife and son, is mulling a challenge to Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts in 2009

Dale Glading insists he’s not a glutton for punishment. But after getting crushed by Rob Andrews in ultra-Democratic 1st Congressional District last week, he’s thinking about making another run for office in a similarly Democratic district.

Glading, who runs a prison ministry and lives in Barrington, said that he may run against Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden) and incumbent Assemblywoman Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D-Camden) in the 5th Legislative District.

“I would never say never. I told my wife going in, or she told me rather, that it was one and done. But she’s expressed some interest in it,” said Glading. “At this point it’s up to God and my wife in that order.”

Republican Christopher Smith received 198,446 votes in his bid for re-election to a fifteenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. That was the most total votes received by any House candidate in the 2008 cycle, and the third highest total votes in state history. (Smith's 2004 votes also gives him the #6 slot.)

The record for the most all-time votes goes to Rob Andrews in 2004.

Democrat Rush Holt, who won 181,189 votes, makes the list of the Top Ten All-Time Votegetters in New Jersey Congressional races; Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen, whose 2004 totals put him second on the all-time list, is also ranked #10, thanks to the 177,039 votes he received last week.

The Top Ten All-Time Votegetters in New Jersey Congressional races:

If Republicans can't beat John Adler in 2010, chances are they never will.  If Adler wins a second term, watch for mapmakers to take take some heavily Republican Ocean County towns out of his district when new congressional districts are drawn for the 2012 elections.  Adler scored a 52%-48% victory last week over Republican Christopher Myers for the seat of retiring twelve term U.S. Rep. Jim Saxton -- a seat Democrats hadn't won since 1882.

Republican insiders say that Myers isn't likely to get a second shot at the seat, and that the favorite candidate could be former major league baseball pitcher Al Leiter.  Leiter, a Toms River native who has said he wants to run for office someday, has turned down several offers to seek U.S. Senate and House seats in recent years.  Other possible Adler opponents include: State Sen. Diane Allen (who must first heal wounds in a very fractured Burlington County Republican organization); State Sen. Phil Haines; Assemblywoman Dawn Addiego; Assemblyman Brian Rumpf; and Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly, who lost the '08 GOP primary to Myers.

Frank Lautenberg becomes the first U.S. Senator from New Jersey to win a fifth term, but didn't set any records for winning percentages.  His 56% against former U.S. Rep. Richard Zimmer was his career best, but he didn't approach the 60% mark that Bill Bradley, Clifford Case and Harrison Williams had achieved back in a time when the state was more politically competitive.  Still, the 84-year-old Democrat is secure for the next six years, and did not have to sweat much after pushing back a primary challenge from U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews.

The 3rd district congressional race between Democrat John Adler and Republican Christopher Myers is a statistical dead heat, according to a Zogby International poll conducted by The Press of Atlantic City and The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.  More than 16% of the voters poll remain undecided, with each candidate at 39%.   Adler, a State Senator from Camden County, and Myers, the Mayor of Medford, are seeking the seat of Republican Jim Saxton, who is retiring after 24 years in the House.  Republicans have held this seat since 1884.

Third district voters are also split on races for President and U.S. Senate: Barack Obama, 45%, John McCain, 44%; and Dick Zimmer, 45%, Frank Lautenberg 44%.

Democrats and Republicans seem to agree that 84-year-old U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg did just fine in his debate this week with Republican Dick Zimmer.  The George Allen/James Stockdale kind of moment Republicans were hoping for never happened; pundits from both sides say that Lautenberg won it on his own merits.  Zimmer complained that this was the first Senate campaign in years that didn't include a debate on New York and Philadelphia network affiliate television (this debate was on NJ101.5 radio, and Saturday's on New Jersey Public Television) -- a move that got him in a ton of trouble with NJ101.5's The Jersey Guys.

With Louis Greenwald out of the race for State Senator if John Adler wins his race for Congress, one possible candidate is South Jersey AFL-CIO President Donald Norcross, the brother of South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross.  Donald Norcross was widely expected to go to Congress this year before incumbent Rob Andrews decided to reclaim the seat he gave up to challenge Frank Lautenberg in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary.