Below the fold is the whole text of an article from Sunday's New York Times New Jersey section that did not make it to the web version of the paper. The Ferguson campaign says much of the same stuff here, including that because the 7th district averages $90,000 a year that we will forget all the connections to DeLay, votes against the environment and rubber stamping he's done in Congress in return for tax cuts.
But the NY Times sees a different story, and you can see it in the headline. It doesn't read that Linda Stender thinks Mike Ferguson is vulnerable, or that Rahm Emmanuel of the DCCC thinks Mike Ferguson is vilnerable, or Blue 7th thinks Mike Ferguson is vulnerable. It very clearly says, "A Vulnerable Republican" as a statement of fact.
And it's true. Mike Ferguson is a vulnerable Repbulican, and we need to make sure that the people know how he's been voting for the past few years as he "represented" us in Congress. Once we've gotten the word out, we can feel good about letting the voters decide.
Here's the article:
A Vulnerable Republican
AS Democrats here plot to retake control of Congress, New Jersey's Seventh Congressional District -- made up of some of the state's wealthiest communities -- has emerged as a major front in that battle.
In this instance the incumbent, Mike Ferguson, who is viewed as a prime target in this year's midterm Congressional elections, faces what is shaping up as a difficult challenge from Linda Stender, a popular assemblywoman who is already employing themes that Democrats nationwide are likely to use against Republicans whom they view as vulnerable.
Kate Bedingfield, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said: ''In a year like this, when voters are looking for change, when families are disappointed with what their representatives are doing in Congress, they see Mike Ferguson as the face of the G.O.P. His voting record shows where he is.''
Democrats are hoping to capitalize on growing anxiety over the war in Iraq (Mr. Ferguson supported it), President Bush's plummeting poll numbers (Democrats cast Mr. Ferguson as a ''rubber stamp'' of the administration) and the corruption scandals engulfing Capitol Hill (Democrats have accused Mr. Ferguson of taking campaign donations from questionable sources).
If the Democrats can pick up enough seats, they will regain a majority in the House and end the period of Republican dominance begun in 1994. Currently there are 231 Republicans, 201 Democrats, 1 independent and 2 vacancies.
Mr. Ferguson is no newcomer to such challenges. Democrats, emboldened by their party's dominance in statewide elections, have tried to wrest control of this district, which Mr. Ferguson first won in 2000, when the Democratic presidential candidate, Al Gore, overwhelmingly won the district. But each time, in 2002 and 2004, Mr. Ferguson won with sizable margins, in large part because the district's map was redrawn to include more Republicans.
Now Mr. Ferguson and his allies predict that his current opponent will meet with the same fate as the others, contending that voters will judge him on his record on tax relief and homeland security, two powerful issues in a district that his office says has an average median income of more than $90,000 and had 85 residents killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
''It's like 'Groundhog Day,' '' Mr. Ferguson said in a recent interview, referring to the 1993 Bill Murray movie. ''Same strategy, different year. The Democrats are once again trying to convince people that they are targeting me and this race, but I'm going to keep on doing what I've done for the past five years.''
Still, Democrats in Washington say that they have plenty of reason to be hopeful. For one thing, they have recruited a seasoned politician in Ms. Stender, a three-term assemblywoman who was the mayor and a Borough Council member in Fanwood.
Ms. Stender is one of nearly a dozen women whom Democratic leaders here are rallying behind in an effort to convey the need for change and to offer an alternative to what they describe as the Republican ''culture of corruption'' and the ''good old boys in Washington.'' In her four months on the campaign trail, Ms. Stender has already raised more than $350,000 and expects to have more than $300,000 left in the bank by the end of this month, her camp says.
In a strong measure of the interest that national Democrats are taking in the race, Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, traveled to New Jersey in March to attend a fund-raiser for Ms. Stender.
The event was also billed as a kickoff for the committee's national campaign promoting stem cell research, including a new Web ad highlighting what it calls Mr. Ferguson's ''extremist'' record on the issue and tying him to the evangelist Pat Robertson, President Bush and Tom DeLay, the House majority leader who stepped down last fall as he faced a criminal investigation into his campaign finance activities.
The ultimate goal of Democrats is clear: to portray Mr. Ferguson, who represents a politically moderate district, as a politician who has been unwilling to stand up to his party's dominant conservative wing.
Democrats have even sought to tie him to the financial scandals on Capital Hill, saying that Mr. Ferguson received more than $54,000 from Mr. DeLay and his political action committees -- a claim the Ferguson camp does not deny. ''Each of those contributions were lawful and appropriate,'' said Chris Jones, Mr. Ferguson's chief of staff. ''Some even go back as far as 1998 or were donated to all freshman Republicans.''
Mr. Ferguson is leaving nothing to chance. His campaign says he has about $1.1 million in the bank so far, or about twice the amount he had at the same point in 2004. ''Mike always campaigns like he is one vote behind, no matter what,'' Mr. Jones said. ''That doesn't change, regardless of the candidate or the political climate.''
Moreover, national Republicans and the Ferguson camp insist that Democrats are overstating their prospects of winning the seat as part of a larger strategy to inflate the number of districts that are competitive this year. ''The Democrats are talking up a lot of races in the country they have no business talking up," said Ed Patru, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. ''This isn't the first noncompetitive race they're going after. And I don't think it's the last.''
In addition, there is reason to question whether the Democrats will stick with Ms. Stender to the bitter end. In the past, national Democrats focused their resources on races that they deemed more promising as Election Day approached and Mr. Ferguson appeared to be in a strong position.
But Democrats predict that will not be the case this time around. ''The national climate this year is different,'' said Ms. Bedingfield, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman. ''Republicans who would consider themselves in safe seats are now realizing they might not be so safe.''
Mike Premo, the campaign manager for Ms. Stender, agreed. ''''People are fed up,'' he said. ''They've had enough. What they're looking for is leadership that will stand up for the president when he's right, and confront him when he's wrong. This is not the Mike Ferguson these people put into Congress. He portrays himself one way to his constituents and when he goes to Washington he does what he's told.''
