While Adler surges, GOP struggles

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.