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" Editor&amp;#039;s note: the name of the incumbent candidate is italicized, while the candidate we&amp;#039;re endorsing is in bold. SENATE Dick Zimmer (R) Frank Lautenberg (D) After a brief retirement in 2000, Lautenberg was called upon in 2002 by Jersey Democrats to run in place of scandal-plagued Bob &amp;quot;Torch&amp;quot; Torricelli. Lautenberg is a crusty bastard, and we like him. But now, his duty done, he should have retired. He first won election to the Senate in 1982, beating Republican iconoclast Millicent Fenwick. His signal issue in the race? Her age. She was all of 72. Lautenberg is 84. Zimmer, a former congressman, is a sound pick.Esquire endorses: Zimmer HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Congressional District 1 Dale Glading (R) Rob Andrews (D) After a brief, unsuccessful bid to become his party&amp;#039;s Senate nominee, Andrews announced in September that he&amp;#039;d be running for his House seat again. He&amp;#039;s an unusually prolific legislator, and one who&amp;#039;s willing to compromise across the aisle.Esquire endorses: Andrews District 2 Frank LoBiondo (R) David Kurkowski (D) Conservative on taxes, gun rights, and abortion, LoBiondo is also a friend to the unions that make up a large bloc in his district. He gets additional local cred for his work to protect the fragile waters that surround it on three sides.Esquire endorses: LoBiondo District 3 Chris Myers (R) John Adler (D) The platitudes are flying thick and fast in the race for this open seat. But strangely, both candidates field similar messages: bipartisanship, responsible energy policies, and that vague buzzword of the year, change. The difference? Myers, an executive at Lockheed Martin, also offers impressively specific proposals on most issues.Esquire endorses: Myers District 4 Chris Smith (R) Josh Zeitz (D) Smith has waged fights against human-rights abuses and the underfunding of veterans&amp;#039; programs with a passion. His party rewarded him by stripping him of assignments.Esquire endorses: Smith District 5 Scott Garrett (R) Dennis Shulman (D) A moralist and antitax evangelist, Garrett would happily do away with government entirely, unless a woman who is impregnated by a rapist seeks an abortion. Then he&amp;#039;d send in the feds to arrest her.Esquire endorses: Shulman District 6 Robert McLeod (R) Frank Pallone (D) Pallone is a stalwart example of the best sort of New Jersey Democrat, a local guy who works hard for working people and uses his privileged position to protect the magical Jersey Shore.Esquire endorses: Pallone District 7 Leonard Lance (R) Linda Stender (D) Open seat. Scratch Leonard Lance&amp;#039;s thin claim of independence--earned in a state government in which simple lack of venality brands you a rebel--and a Norquistian antitax fundamentalist is revealed. Stender, a Clintonian, recognizes that a bigger millstone to economic growth is our skyrocketing national debt.Esquire endorses: Stender District 8 Roland Straten (R) Bill Pascrell (D) Know why you&amp;#039;ve never heard of Bill Pascrell? Because he&amp;#039;s been ignoring you and the rest of the world in favor of his constituents.Esquire endorses: Pascrell District 9 Vince Micco (R) Steven Rothman (D) Another locally focused pol, Rothman&amp;#039;s main issue is the quality of life in his congested, industrial district surrounding the Meadowlands. But on national issues he&amp;#039;s a reliable Democrat--hence the belief that he&amp;#039;s got his eye on the Senate whenever a seat opens up.Esquire endorses: Rothman District 10 No major-party opponent Donald Payne (D) Payne subscribes to the school of thought that says American civil rights are universal human rights, and quietly but firmly, he has fought for both at home and abroad, particularly in Africa.Esquire endorses: Payne District 11 Rodney Frelinghuysen (R) Tom Wyka (D) The Left moans about Frelinghuysen for his support of the war. But this throwback liberal Republican is hardly their worst enemy, or anyone&amp;#039;s for that matter--outside of the evangelical Right&amp;#039;s.Esquire endorses: Frelinghuysen District 12 Alan Bateman (R) Rush Holt (D) A physicist by training, Holt has an apolitical faith in the value of unbiased data and logical analysis that has been a shield against the White House&amp;#039;s cynical manipulation of science and its all-too-eager embrace of the creationist Right.Esquire endorses: Holt District 13 Joseph Turula (R) Albio Sires (D) In 2006, Sires came out on top in a brutal internecine fight for this solidly Democratic district. He&amp;#039;s not here to make waves, but he fits.Esquire endorses: Sires To see more of the Esquire Endorsements 2008 package, including our recommendations for who to vote for in other states, please click this link. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a5152/new-jersey-1108/>