Per PolitickerNJ, the widow of former congressman John Adler is set to announce she plans to take from Jon Runyan the NJ-3 congressional seat that Runyan took from John Adler. It would be good to see another Adler sweep to victory in the 3rd District, like John Adler was swept in back in 2008. It's good symmetry.
It's useful to remember that though former Eagle Jon Runyan may have won in 2010, he got the chance to challenge Adler in his first re-election as an incumbent (Shelley Adler gets that chance now with Runyan) when he may never again be as vulnerable. Plus, the district had been Republican before Adler came in on the Obama wave, and perhaps most memorably, the Adler campaign floated a fake Tea Party candidate they tried for a long time to deny. That was apparently too disreputable even for New Jersey politics. (Adler, you'll remember, died of complications of a staph infection just weeks later). Note: in an earlier version of this post I posted the wrong numbers for Runyan's victory. Hat tip ken bank for the correction.
This is a good time to take Runyan out, though Adler will haYve to move into the District to do it. Her hometown Cherry Hill was redistricted out of NJ-3 this time around. And it's useful to remember, whatever the unpleasant history of the late Congressman Adler's last campaign, as a man and as a candidate, he way outclassed Runyan. Shelley Adler, like her late husband, is an attorney. Whatever his fame on the field, Runyan was spectacularly unqualified for office when he ran (and won). It's impossible not to wish Adler well (or for that matter, any Democrat that takes Runyan on in a viable campaign). After all, Runyan's still this guy:
I have lived in Northwestern New Jersey in CD5 for over 30 years, but for the last 9+ years I have had the misfortune of having Scott Garrett as my Representative in Congress. Assemblywoman Connie Wagner would be my choice to unseat him. Having served in the Assembly since 2008, representing the 38th District, she has proven to be a champion of progressive ideals and values. I also think that Connie will be able to raise a significant amount of money in order to compete against Garrett and the Tea Party money.
Dr. Tom Sacks-Wilner lives in Medford, CD3. For several years I have been a donor to Tom's fundraising/bundling group. He is a person who raises money readily and efficiently. With an expansive donor base that he has fashioned, he can easily raise at least $6 million from now to November 6. His ability to fundraise will provide the mandatory funds needed to define Jon Runyan. He has been politically active behind the scenes, especially in progressive causes.
In light of the Republican-favorable redistricting, Connie and Tom would each have a mountain to climb to defeat their respective opponent; however the challenge is certainly not insurmountable. I believe both would make their races interesting, should they choose to run.
Conventional wisdom says that one way to defeat Congressman Jon Runyan this year is to fight fire with fire. That is, instead of the Democrats standing up a run-of-the-mill politician against Runyan, they should nominate a celebrity. The thinking is that there's really no one in the Burlington/Ocean county political establishment that has the name recognition, fundraising ability, and gravitas to compete with the ex-NFL "bad boy" and his bottomless source of campaign funds from the corporatists.
There is a celebrity athlete in Runyan's congressional district - one who has dabbled in politics before., and can be orders of magnitude better than Runyan. Olympian Carl Lewis ran for state senate last year, only to be denied the opportunity to serve because a judge ruled that the long-time New Jerseyan did not strictly fit the residency requirements.
Photo of Lewis' announcement of his senate run - April, 2011
(Left to right: Orange, NJ Mayor Eldrige Hawkins, Carl Lewis, Christopher Walker - Executive Director of the Carl Lewis Foundation, New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney)
Recently, I received some campaign literature in the mail. I thought it was a bit early -- after all, the election is still two months away. Usually, when I receive this type of material, I toss it right into the recycle bin, treating material from Democrats and Republicans equally.
But then I looked more closely. I saw the face of Jon Runyan on the material. "Interesting," I thought. I knew Runyan's re-election campaign was still a year away. "I wonder who he's endorsing," I said to myself. So I looked at the ad again.
Much to my surprise, it was a campaign ad for Runyan himself. But even more amazing was the fact that he used his congressional franking privilege to pay for and mail the campaign ad.
John could stand on the edge of a great divide and look for where a bridge needed to be built. - John Adler's brother-in-law, from his eulogy
There was a standing ovation for John Adler today at his funeral. It was called by his brother-in-law who's in show business on the West Coast. In his business, he said, when people do very well, we give them a standing ovation. In the vast sanctuary of Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill, everyone stood.
Of course, many were already standing. Temple Emanuel was jammed, probably straining the Cherry Hill fire marshal's restrictions, and the sanctuary was standing-room-only, as were several overflow rooms inside, and the crowd spilled outside into the parking lot.
"First time I saw John, he was dancing with a refrigerator," began the story told by Adler's law school roommate and best man at his wedding. A lot of the stories told reflected both deep affection for him, and warm appreciation for his merry view of life. The service had its moments of both laughter and tears. And it was well attended both by those whose politics he shared, and by well-respected Republicans with whom he differed. All there to pay tribute to the man that was "just John" to wife Shelley and their four boys.
The rabbi gave the blessing in Hebrew for those " who serve in public office", calling him a "mensch". He gave that term's definition as nothing more than a man much loved and respected by all. He told a story about John listening to the youngest member of a contingent lobbying for his support of Israel, listening intently. That John took the time to listen so closely made a real difference to that young woman.
In the spirit of Adler's sense of humor, his brother-in-law apologized for blowing his nose into his yarmulke, as he cried. He told the story of playing John in Trivial Pursuit, that it was like going up against Google itself.
In fact, I found out today, John auditioned for Jeopardy and was accepted. But he was bumped for knowing someone who worked as an attorney at ABC. He didn't even know the man well, it was somebody he went to law school with, but he could not lie. "John was the greatest Jeopardy champion who never appeared on the show," said his wife's brother, laughing.
Today, John Adler was remembered as a man never took himself too seriously, who loved "really stupid" movies. His son talked about how he loved what he called Italian-American sociological study, which is how he referred to Jersey Shore.
The Adler family asks that if individuals wish to make a donation in John Adler's name, they would appreciate contributions to Cooper University Hospital and University of Pennsylvania Hospital. Both tried to save his life. John Adler was just 51. Rest in Peace.
We're just getting word that former NJ-3 congressman, John Adler, has died. Adler was hospitalized a few weeks ago and received emergency heart surgery at University of Pennsylvania Hospital after contracting staph bacterial endocarditis. The hospital has not confirmed the death. Sen. Paul Sarlo is the source for reports of Adler's passing.
Adler's father died when Adler was a teenager. It was a defining story of his campaigns. The Adlers lost the family dry cleaning business and had to depend on Social Security survivor benefits to survive. Adler was among just a handful of Democrats who voted against the overhaul of America's health care system last year, angering progressives and many Democrats. Adler lost his seat to GOP former football player Jon Runyan, despite a public debate the Harvard-educated Adler won easily over an embarrassed and poorly-informed now-congressman Runyan.
More details as we get them.
UPDATE: NJ Senate Budget hearing was interrupted at 3:45pm when the news reached the State House, where Adler served in the NJ Senate for 17 years 1992-2009.
UPDATE: Adler's death is confirmed by Assemblyman and NJ Democratic State Committee Chair John Wisniewski. I've posted his statement in comments.
This was snapped by a Republican and posted at the Camden GOP's website, in the 'Chairman's Blog' for Chair Richard A. DeMichele, Jr. Now that Jon Runyan is sworn in (you can read their live-blog of that here), they also plan to post a picture of his new office.
You can imagine how fresh and scrubbed NJ-3 feels for Republicans now, with Adler gone - which prognosticators on both sides saw coming ages ago for different reasons. I don't predict an easy first term for Jon Runyan.
While I'm all the way up in Northern New Jersey, I did take somewhat of an ongoing interest in John Adler's race as I thought he was "different" from other New Jersey Democrats in the way he portrayed himself over the past two years. Sure, there are many reasons that can be thought of as to why John Adler lost to Jon Runyan - whether it was the campaign "missteps" or the issue surrounding the recruitment of a third party candidate or a "wave" that he got caught in, but when you look at the results - a 6,000 vote loss - there is one thing that stands out to me; something that is a narrative in and of itself:
If you betray yourself and your values, you will lose in the end.
Adler could and should have easily held this seat. Runyan was a far inferior candidate and didn't run a great campaign at all. He took very few positions, offered little detail or specifics and fumbled badly (pun intended) in debates and in his comments.
Let's pretend this is the News Roundup. Better yet, make it an Open Thread ...
The picture below is cold reality, but I am not going to waste my time mourning. New Jersey battled back. Good candidates fell all over the country Tuesday. In New Jersey, we held on by our teeth.
The big loss was John Adler, in a series of self-inflicted wounds. We knew months ago when Adler tried to play both sides on health care reform, that he'd sacrificed his base. We knew when Jane Roh's Courier Post account of the mechanics of Peter DeStefano's sham Tea Party candidacy that the Adler campaign had been pulled down the rabbit hole by the Camden County Democratic Committee. We can't be stung by that loss anymore, we grieved it a long time ago. But what fresh hell Jon Runyan will be, we'll leave to the light of day, or at least until tonight's Glenlivet wears off.
We held on to two key House progressives in the NJ delegation that we might have lost (Pallone in NJ-6 and Holt in NJ-12). These were the real nail-biters of the night. Anna Little was New Jersey's only Tea Party candidate running a viable challenger race. With Frank Pallone's win, she is not the only loser. The Tea Party itself is delegitimized in NJ, juiceless unless they regroup and figure out how to appeal to the citizenry without promising to ruin the environment, erase government and create false enemies to be terrified of. Twelve years ago, the last time the congressional races topped the ticket, Rush Holt won, an unlikely candidate without the flash and sizzle of most smooth-talkers, he was wonky and earnest. This year, the congressional topping the ticket again, science teacher Ed Potosnak ran in adjacent NJ-7, wonky and earnest. He lost - it was always an uphill race. But like Holt (who also lost his first time out), Potosnak should run again. Potosnak never dumbed down his progressivism.
Chris Christie did not have a good night. And that's damn gratifying. GOP candidates Little, Scott Sipprelle, and Tom Goodwin caved. GOP candidate Felix Garcia lost the Passaic Sheriff's race. I'll leave Bergen County to the Bergen scholars on this blog but it's worth noting that Christie would have a hard time claiming GOP's Kathe Donovan's win as County Executive for himself, given that Bergen Grassroots DFA crossed the aisle to back her, too. The state's most heavily-watched legislative special election - overshadowed by Adler drama - was Tom Goodwin's attempt to hold his thin incumbency (appointed in March, to Bill Baroni's vacant seat) against Linda Greenstein. This was a referendum on Christie's short months in office, and it didn't break his way. LD-14 has both conservatives and a band of resentful public workers. From the beginning, Goodwin hitched his star to Christie; Greenstein was the alternative, the promise of a stronger Democratic Senate. Let her help bring that now.
For the record, there will either not be a News Roundup in the morning, or it will come late. Late. Like a lot of you, I've been up for 24 hours; like more of you, I'm soaked in scotch.
John Adler was the first Democrat to represent this area in Congress in 126 years. By that account, the next Democrat that goes to the House of Representatives from our district will be elected in 2136 - so his or her parents have not yet been born.
The Adler staff espoused optimism all evening, but it was easy to tell from their body language that they were worried even as the evening started. The results came in slowly - first from Ocean County which is Runyan country. We expected a long evening, but even that wasn't to be. Congressman Adler addressed the crowd shortly before 10PM telling them that he wished Jon Runyan well and would help him with the transition. He spoke glowingly about his friends, volunteers, supporters, and family, then shook a few hands and left as abruptly as he entered.
So NJ-3 returns to its traditional Republican roots and John Adler returns to civilian life. He got caught in the Tea Party Republican juggernaut that has swept the country tonight. We can only hope that Jon Runyan will be as independent of his party as John Adler has been of his.
NJEA's Political Action Committee, NJEA PAC, has three ads running on local cable stations, promoting John Adler for Congress, Linda Greenstein for the LD-14 state senate seat, and Bergen County Executive Dennis McNerney. who is running for re-election.
Adler's ad went up just yesterday the Greenstein and McNerney spots have been running since last Friday. Adler ad is below; Greenstein and McNerney ads, after the jump.
Who knew? In addition to Oprah, Newark Mayor Cory Booker is also good friends with Congressman John Adler. That's the way it was presented at an Adler rally today in Willingboro.
The event was well-attended by the party faithful with a slew of local Democratic celebrities on the dais. Local candidates were well-represented including Aimee Belgard, candidate for Burlington County Freeholder, and Jay Coltre, candidate for Burlington County Sheriff.
After the introductions, John Adler addressed the crowd of about 150 supporters. I've heard Adler speak many times, and this was by far his best performance. In the past, he has seemed a bit stiff to me, but today he was on top of his game. His ten-minute extemporaneous presentation was lively and he delivered a very positive message. The congressman reminded the crowd that he was there to serve them, not necessarily the party, and that he hoped to have another two years to help the President with his agenda. (I'm not sure how this is in accord with Adler's health care position, but this was a "feel good" rally and the audience seemed to buy it.)
The popular Newark mayor was the highlight of the afternoon. He spoke from the heart, telling the audience about his childhood in North Carolina, the influence that his father had on him, and the need to be partisan during elections, but non-partisan in governing. My favorite line was about Democrats' "sedentary agitation" - getting all worked up about Fox "News" and other demagoguery, but not proactively working toward fixing the system. Booker reminded me of another young politician - John F. Kennedy. His remarks were passionate and sincere. But unlike JFK, Booker was not born into wealth and his story was inspiring. When talking about the election of Governor Christie, he lamented about the low voter turnout in his own Newark election district, and implored the audience not only to vote this year, but to get the message out to their friends and co-workers.
The mayor concluded with excerpts from Langston Hughes' poem Let America Be America Again:
O, let America be America again-
The land that never has been yet-
And yet must be-
The land where everyone is free.
The land that's mine-
The poor man's, Indian's, Negro's,
ME-
The State Democrats mashed up some of the NJ-3's more embarrassing statements of late. We have that video below.
Blue Jersey already ran Runyan's stunning answer on a general knowledge question that has stumped unprepared candidates like Sarah Palin and Christine O'Donnell before him. Amazing that none of his handlers saw the question coming and prepared him. Well, maybe not so amazing. But I hadn't seen his answer on loopholes that let companies ship jobs overseas. Wow. Just wow.
Seriously? Checking in on recent Supreme Court decisions is a general-knowledge question and it flummoxed both Sarah Palin and just days ago left Christine O'Donnell flapping, how did Jon Runyan manage not to see this coming and you know, brush up on civics 'n stuff.
John Adler, Harvard man, put the question to GOP opponent Jon Runyan in last night's debate for Millenium Radio on the campus of Ocean County College.
The Question (as asked by Adler): Can you give me a example from the last 10 or 15 years of a Supreme Court decision with which you strongly disagree. Adler even helpfully points out that the Supreme Court is a "different branch of government" than the one Runyan's running for. Video quality: not great. Runyan's answer: priceless.
After the jump, watch Sarah Palin & Christine O'Donnell's also-not-ready-for-primetime answers to the same damn question).
Posted late last night, after the tense matchup. - promoted by Rosi
Tonight was the big showdown. The first (and probably only) public debate between the diminutive incumbent, Congressman John Adler, and the leviathan ex-footballer Jon Runyan.
If you haven't heard about the purported Tea Party candidate/"plant" story that broke today in South Jersey, welcome back to the planet. It's not especially pretty. Courier-Post:
Camellia sinensis. (It's Latin for Tea Plant)
On a balmy evening last May, about three dozen members of the South Jersey Young Dems convened at the Camden County Democratic Committee HQ (where) Freeholder Jeff Nash warned the assembled crowd of party volunteers and legislative aides that the sour economy would make the coming election season difficult.... To give (incumbent Congressman John) Adler an edge, (CCDC) recruited a then-unidentified man to run as a third-party candidate. That candidate would act as a conservative spoiler... But first he had to get on the ballot. With the filing deadline just weeks away, CCDC needed volunteers to hit the streets and collect signatures -- fast.
For what it's worth, I happen to live in NJ-3 and cast my vote (by mail) for Adler which I don't regret it. Also, I was a staffer on the historic 2008 campaign when Alder became the first Democrat to represent this district in over 125 years.
But I still have an uneasy feeling about how this story emerged. It's not illegal or uncommon for candidates to enhance their chances at the polls by helping get 3rd party candidates on the ballot. Mother Jones:
Republicans have a long history of such shenanigans, typically propping up the Green Party in recent election cycles. In Arizona, a Republican operative was particularly brazen in recruiting three homeless people to run for state office. And in Texas, Republicans spent a half-million dollars in an effort to put the Texas Green Party on the ballot in the state race-backed by sketchy operatives who also tried to help Ralph Nader in the 2004 race.
t's my personal philosophy that you win campaigns by whatever legal means you have at your disposal. If you don't use every legal tool you've got, you should be fired for campaign malpractice. So I guess I am glad they hatched this plan because I think Adler's opponent would be infinitely worse choice. You can bet your entire Franklin Mint red ceramic elephant collection the BurlCO GOP would do the same thing if they thought it'd give them an edge. Both play hard and play to win; Politics isn't tiddlywinks.
I would however deduct a few style points for how this plan was executed. If you're not gonna be totally discreet about your strategy you should at least own it right?
Consider this an open-thread. How does this look/smell from your perspective?
Imagine this scenario. Freshman Democratic Congressman John Adler defeats footballer Jon Runyan in the November election. This is plausible because even though New Jersey's Third District has been gerrymandered to make it a "safe" district for the GOP, Adler has significantly more money with which to campaign, and Runyan is weak on the important issues. Now, also imagine that nationally, the Republicans take control of the House.
If this scenario were to come to pass, the best thing John Adler could do is to switch parties and become a Republican. Certainly, his first term voting record mirrors what would have been the voting pattern of his predecessor, long-term moderate GOP Congressman Jim Saxton. Like Adler, Saxton would probably have voted against health care and would have supported the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Also, given the fact that New Jersey's redistricting based on the 2010 census will be controlled by Chris Christie's cronies, it is a safe bet that this district will once again be gerrymandered favorably for Republicans. Switching parties would be a safe bet for Adler to retain his seat for several more terms under this scenario.
This sequence of events would not only benefit John Adler, but it would benefit the District as a whole. With a GOP majority in Congress, a Republican Adler would be better positioned to promote programs and earmarks that would bring jobs, funding, and other benefits to Burlington and Ocean Counties. He would still be a minority within his own (new) party because even though he votes more like a Republican, he has not partaken of the Tea Party Kool Aid. The more moderate Republicans who are sent to Congress (as opposed to Tea Party Republicans), the better off we all will be. And if Mr. Adler does switch parties after the election, it leaves room for a progressive Democrat to run in 2012, giving voters of the Third District a real choice.
I hope Adler wins; after all, he's (barely) the lesser of two evils. And I hope that the Democrats retain control of the House - otherwise this nation is in deep shit. But if the Democrats do lose, and Adler does win, we are all better off if he honestly admits that he's a moderate Republican and switches to the GOP.
Is John Adler actually literally letting financial industry lobbyists write his copy now? That's what a letter Adler's shopping around to Democrats reads like. From TPM we learn that NJ-3's Democratic congressman is trying to generate signatures from his colleagues on a letter to Nancy Pelosi to extend more taxes to wealthy folks.
The letter to Democratic leadership promotes the extension of Bush-era dividends and capital gains tax rates, passed in 2003 and due to expire at the end of this year. And again, caving to Republicans is foolish when there is an actual Republican option to vote for. And besides any political calculation that may be present, extending this is plainly wrong. I cannot imagine any other Democratic congressman in the NJ delegation signing this. Text of Rep. Adler's letter is after the jump.
