Lautenberg keeping Dems guessing about '08 plans

Lautenberg having some fun keeping Dems guessing about '08 plans

By STEVE KORNACKI
PoliticsNJ.com

Sen. Frank Lautenberg at his January 2004 weddingMARCH 22 - Ever since his improbable return to the political stage was capped with a resounding victory at the polls three Novembers ago, state political observers have sought with varying intensity to divine whether Frank R. Lautenberg might seek a fifth term in the U.S. Senate in 2008.

The state’s junior senator is in no hurry to make a definitive statement but his ultimate decision will be of no small consequence in a state with just three statewide elected posts -- the two U.S. Senate seats and the governor.

If Lautenberg hangs it up, it could help ease a mounting logjam of ambitious Democratic politicians in New Jersey . But another six-year term for Lautenberg might derail the upward aspirations of those same pols.

This Monday, Lautenberg took what might be construed as the first formal step to seeking re-election, hosting a $500-a-head fund-raiser at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark that, according to his aides’ estimates, brought in over $1 million for his campaign committee.

Lautenberg remains $1.4 million in debt from his 2002 Senate campaign, but his chief of staff, Tim Yehl, said Monday night’s rake would go exclusively to the senator’s 2008 re-election fund.

More: http://www.politicsnj.com/kornacki032205_Lautenberg.htm