Former Gov. Kean '57 endorses McCain
Former New Jersey governor Tom Kean '57 has endorsed Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) campaign for president. Kean, who served as a co-chairman of the 9/11 Commission, made the announcement with McCain at a campaign event Monday to reinforce McCain's message that he is the candidate best prepared to carry on President Bush's war on terror.
Kean said his decision to endorse McCain was largely due to the senator's national security and foreign policy credentials.
"First and foremost, John McCain understands the dangers of the terrorist threat that continues to affect every single one of us every single day," Kean said during an event in Boston. "We better have a president who is ready to take the job, and ready to take the helm, and ready the day he takes office. John McCain is ready to be president."
The endorsement is Kean's first at the national level in more than 20 years. "Usually I stay out of these things," he said. "This is an endorsement, frankly, of conscience. I frankly couldn't sit by and not endorse this man."
Kean served as governor from 1982 to 1990 and was viewed as a popular moderate during his days in state politics. He is also a member of the Robertson Foundation board of trustees.
Kean's son, 2006 U.S. Senate candidate and incoming New Jersey Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr., is a co-chair for Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign in New Jersey.
Second Representative to Retire
Rep. Mike Ferguson announced Monday that he will not seek reelection to a fifth term next November. The 37-year-old Republican said he wants to spend more time with his four young children.
Last November, Ferguson won reelection to the seventh Congressional District by just one percent, or 3,239 votes, against Linda Strender, a Democratic assemblywoman. Strender had already been preparing for a rematch and will now compete for an open seat.
The surprise retirement announcement is the second in as many weeks from an incumbent Republican. Rep. Jim Saxton announced on Nov. 9 that he would not seek reelection to a 12th term.
The two leading Republican candidates have both declined to run. State Sen. Thomas Kean, Jr., announced yesterday that he could not run, opting instead to focus on his nascent tenure as Senate Majority Leader. Kean was among the candidates who ran against Ferguson in the district's Republican primary in 2000, when Bob Franks gave up the seat in a failed bid for the U.S. Senate. Assembly Minority Whip Jon Bramnick followed with a second announcement Tuesday morning that he will not be a candidate in next June's primary. Franks also announced Tuesday he would not seek a return to the House.
Their decision not to run leaves the GOP without a strong contender for the open seat. Former Hillsborough Deputy Mayor Christopher Venis has entered the race, and other potential candidates include outgoing Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance GS '82, State Sen.-elect Christopher Bateman and Bridgewater Mayor Patricia Flannery. William Mennen, the Hunterdon County freeholder-elect and heir to the Mennen deodorant company, is also considering a run.
Sen. Lautenberg readies for reelection
With his 84th birthday just over two months away, Sen. Frank Lautenberg is preparing for his fifth statewide campaign as the battle leading to the 2008 election heats up.
Two Republicans are already gathering support as they vie for the right to challenge Lautenberg in the general election next November. Real estate executive Anne Estabrook, 63, officially announced her candidacy for next June's Republican nomination, and Morris Plains Assemblyman Joseph Pennacchio, 52, formed an exploratory committee earlier this fall. Pennacchio is the favorite of the party's conservative wing, while Estabrook is supported by the more moderate wing. Ambassador to Brazil Cliff Sobel, a former finance chairman for the New Jersey Republican Party, is also considering a bid for the nomination.
Lautenberg has shown robust fundraising totals during his time in office, with more then $3.6 million in his campaign warchest as of Sept. 30. Estabrook and Pennacchio have not yet had to disclose their fundraising totals. While most political observers consider Lautenberg as the favorite, he does show signs of vulnerability. According to a Quinnipiac University poll released last September, Lautenberg had a 46 percent approval rating, but 54 percent of voters said he was too old to serve for six more years. Against an unnamed Republican challenger, Lautenberg led by just three points, 39 percent to 36 percent.
Lautenberg was first elected to the Senate in 1982 and decided not to seek reelection in 2000. He unexpectedly returned to New Jersey politics in 2002, when then-Sen. Robert Torricelli withdrew his candidacy for reelection because of corruption charges. Lautenberg won the election, defeating Republican challenger Doug Forrester, 54 percent to 44 percent. New Jersey has not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 1972.
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Reunions, Commencement see isolated demonstrations as U. tightens protest warnings
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At this year’s Reunions and Commencement, the University sought to get ahead of any potential demonstrations by exhaustively emphasizing its policies around protests and interruptions, including that those who disrupted an event could face arrest. However, there were only a few Pro-Palestine protest actions, all of them sparsely attended.
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