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Click on the picture below, and go to 7:15 in the clip to see John Adler, the next Congressman from New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District...

By Editor, PolitickerNJ.com

Joined by eight Congressional candidates, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) took the stage tonight in Denver and told Democrats that it's not enough to support U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). "For the change we need, we not only need to elect Barack Obama as our next president, we need to give him a robust Democratic majority in Congress," he said.

He then introduced the eight Democrats to the country, including state Sen. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill), who he called "a fighter for the middle class."

(Mt. Laurel, NJ) -- John Adler, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress in New Jersey's 3rd District released the following statement today regarding President Bush's decision on Friday not to enforce an August 2007 directive to cap State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) eligibility requirements:

"Friday's decision is a victory for hardworking New Jersey families throughout the state. I am glad to see the President change his mind for the benefit of lower and middle income families who are struggling to cover the cost of healthcare for their children.

"The State Children's Health Insurance Program is designed to cover uninsured children in working poor and middle class families that are slightly above the income level for Medicaid. Last year the President vetoed re-authorization of the program twice, and left hundreds of thousands of kids nationwide vulnerable to living with no healthcare. Likewise, the President imposed illegal and immoral regulations that would have immediately resulted in over 10,000 children losing their healthcare coverage.

"Keeping this program alive is vital for making sure that thousands of New Jersey's children continue to receive the care that they need. Cuts to the program planned by the President last year would have been disastrous for New Jersey.

"In October of last year, I stood with leaders from across the state to urge Congress to override the President's veto of this important legislation, because it was both morally and fiscally wrong. Now, months later, I am gratified that the President has acknowledged his mistake and sided with the children and families who will benefit from this program. This is precisely the kind of issue that prompted me to run for Congress. Our working families need leadership in Washington that recognizes their needs and responds to them. As the 3rd District Congressman, I will fight to keep critical programs like SCHIP alive for all families in New Jersey and across the country."

GOP struggling in 3rd District
Hard feelings over primary continue

By: Erik Larsen • APP, TOMS RIVER BUREAU • August 18, 2008

An Army veteran and self-described social conservative, Herbert Geller of Berkeley said Democrat John H. Adler will get his vote for Congress this November.

"There are a lot of GIs coming out of Iraq, men and women, under 22 years old. . ." said Geller, 69, his voice cracking before trailing off. He took a moment to collect himself before continuing: "And the government doesn't give a damn. . . ."

If Rep. Jim Saxton, R-N.J., was seeking re-election this year to the office he has won and owned during the past 24 years of his tenure in the House of Representatives, Republicans would have no cause to be worried. After all, Geller, a former Republican, admits he never even registered to vote when he moved to Berkeley three years ago.

The 3rd Congressional District, a swath of South Jersey that begins on the banks of the Delaware River in Burlington County and stretches east to the shore of Long Beach Island and the Barnegat Peninsula in Ocean County, was supposed to be safe GOP territory this year. In fact, Ocean County is supposed to be a GOP stronghold in any year.

But after Saxton announced he would not seek re-election, a vicious primary battle erupted between the Republican machines in Burlington and Ocean counties over the seat.

As Ocean County Freeholder John P. Kelly and Medford Mayor Chris Myers figuratively beat each other over the heads for the first half of the year: Adler, a Harvard-educated lawyer and influential state senator from Camden County, launched a general election campaign unopposed.

At the start of July, Adler had almost $1.5 million in his campaign coffers. Myers, who wrestled the GOP nomination from Kelly, had little more than $155,000 — not to mention a few sore feelings to massage in Ocean County.

Since then, Adler has used his campaign war chest to set up a field office on Mule Road on the Toms River/Berkeley municipal line, while Myers maintains no more office space than his campaign headquarters in Mount Holly.

All this has led to the question: Could ruby red Ocean County go sapphire blue this November?

"A lot of people in the Camden area think that Burlington County is where the race is going to be fought. I don't believe it. I believe the race is going to be fought in Ocean County," said Sharon Schulman, director of the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

While Burlington is a swing county, Ocean leans Republican. But Democrats have not been without their victories here. In 1996, President Bill Clinton carried Ocean, despite a campaign stop in Toms River by Republican challenger Bob Dole that year. Previously, Democrats have won seats on the Board of Freeholders and in the Legislature.

"The bigger issue is going to be the fundraising," Schulman said. "If it's close, you know, if one person raises half a million dollars and one raises $400,000, it may not be money. But we're talking order of magnitude here, unless there's something that's not showing up that we don't know about."

Schulman said if the Myers campaign does not get an infusion of cash by the fall from the state or national Republican committees, that is a signal the GOP has conceded the seat to Adler.

New Jersey's early presidential primary did not help Republicans this year. Public interest in the battle for the Democratic nomination between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton caused a spike in that party's registration. In the 3rd District, Democrats now outnumber registered Republicans.

According to election officials, Ocean, Burlington and Camden counties — the three counties that comprise the 3rd District — are home to 127,738 registered Democrats and 111,760 Republicans as of last week.

The district is one of 16 House races throughout the country where there is no clear favorite, according to Congressional Quarterly Politics. In New Jersey, the only other competitive race is the 7th District, where Rep. Mike Ferguson, R-N.J., is not seeking re-election.

"That's an encouraging sign," Adler said at a recent town hall meeting in Berkeley where Geller pledged his support. "But history is against me."

Despite a hard fight for the nomination, the Myers campaign feels good about its support in Ocean County, said Chris Russell, his campaign manager.

"Our support among the elected officials (in Ocean County) is growing, and it's growing amongst everyday voters as well," Russell said. "We know we have to raise money, but I think the people looking at it put it in context: We had a primary, Adler did not. Adler has been raising money for a number of years; we've been raising it for a few months. There's a big difference here."

Myers has knocked on 2,000 doors so far and plans to knock on 10,000 before election day. On Friday afternoon, he knocked on the front door belonging to Kim Biehler, 51, a registered Republican in an affluent neighborhood of Toms River.

She seemed more concerned he and his companions would get soaked in one of those sudden, torrential downpours that are not uncommon on the Jersey Shore in August.

"One of the concerns I have is, you know, given (Adler's) performance in Trenton with all these tax increases we have . . . the policies that are coming out of Trenton are just so very anti-business," Myers tried to tell her as he stood on her front porch. "If (Adler) goes down to Washington, he'll do the exact same thing."

She listened politely and then offered his entourage an umbrella.

"I really haven't been following the congressional race at all," Biehler conceded after Myers left her with some campaign literature. "I've been focusing on the presidential election. . . . "I'm really torn (between Obama and John McCain)."

On the campaign stump, Adler tells Ocean County residents that he can do more to help them in Washington than in Trenton. He talks about the cost of the war in Iraq — both in blood and its economic impact — and he vows to vote to bring home not just the troops, but the money being spent on the war.

"People moved to Ocean County for a better life, but the problems have followed us here," Adler said. He hopes that message is one both Democrats and Republicans want to hear.