I have been doing rundowns on the primaries for open Congressional seats that are considered safely Dem as I feel that we should be electing our very best for the seats that are almost certain to be ours. Since I have did the last rundown Martin Sabo retired from the 5th district in Minnesota and I discovered that I had neglected to cover the open 13th district in New Jersey. Also, some candidates have announced for the Republicans in the open 2nd district in Hawaii. So, without further adeu, here are the details for the MN 5 and NJ 13:
Minnesota 5 (Martin Sabo retiring)
This district, centered around Minneapolis, is going to stay safely Democratic, but there are (as expected) a large number of serious candidates running in the Democratic party primary. Martin Sabo's personal choice would probably be his chief of staff (and former MN DFL chairman) Mike Erlandson (http://mikeerlandson.org/) who seems solid enough based on what little I've seen. Also running are State Representative Keith Ellison (http://www.keithellison.org/), Minneapolis City Councilman (and affordable housing activist) Gary Schiff (http://www.garyschiff.com/), Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman (http://www.gaildorfmanforcongress.org/), businesswoman Ann Knapp (http://anneknappforcongress.org/), Minneapolis City Councilman President Paul Ostrow (no campaign website), and a number of others.
In judging the candidates funding is going to be up in the air as Sabo just retired so issues will play a larger point. And it is worth noting that, out of the campaign websites I've seen, only Schiff, Ellison, and Dorfman have true issues sections (with Ellison's being under construction in many sections). Schiff's seems very good with a committment to protecting choice, fighting media monopolies, and a number of other good things. What Ellison has listed is good (including a pull out from Iraq) but still under construction. Dorfman's cover Ending Homelessness, Mental Health reform, and "Building Healthy Communities). I am unsure who would be best at this point though Erlandson will probably have the most initial support. Two Republicans are running but neither are strong candidates (and Tim Anderson had the most embarassing campaign website I've ever seen until he cleaned up the worst of it)
New Jersey 13 (Bob Menendez appointed to US Senate)
Bob Menendez has been appointed to Jon Corzine's US Senate seat and will run for election in November, which leaves his safe seat to a contested Democratic primary. The contest at present is between State House Speaker Albio Sires (http://www.albiosiresforcongress.com/) and State Representative (and Perth Amboy Mayor) Joe Vas (http://www.vasforcongress.com/). Apparently Vas has a good record as Perth Amboy Mayor but I think that Sires seems to be the strong favorite.
Question on Hawaii 2
While this district made my last write-up of safe seats it appears that the GOP has made a strong recruiting coupe as it appears that 2 relatively strong GOP candidates are running (http://starbulletin.com/...) as State Senator Bob Hogue is running and Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle seems to be running in all but name. Hogue has name recognition from his career as a sportscaster and Carlisle has been elected in a Democratic area. This is especially when you consider that the favorites are part of the Hawaii Dem establishment that Lingle was able to effectively portray as merely tired machine members (particularly Hirono who lost against Lingle). Is this district now endangered?