05/12/06 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom
Lautenberg will run again in 2008BY RAJU CHEBIUM
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON -- Frank Lautenberg says he's got the energy, enthusiasm and experience for a fifth U.S. Senate term, and says he'll run in 2008, at age 84.
The Paterson native and World War II veteran said he hated retirement when he tried it before. He says he can't imagine not having an office to go to, a busy schedule to keep, and politics and policy to shape. Besides, he says, he has unfinished business - protecting New Jersey from future terrorists, continuing to improve the health of children and the environment, and expanding the nation's transportation network.
"I am not at all reluctant to take on another term. I still go skiing. I don't jog any more, but I walk a lot of places at a very fast pace; jogging is bad for your knees. So the energy level is good," New Jersey's senior senator told Gannett News Service, adding that his doctor pronounced him in excellent health during a routine physical Wednesday. "There is plenty of vigor and spice in this guy."
Democrats who've most openly expressed interest in serving in the Senate -- Rep. Rob Andrews, D-Haddon Heights, Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, and Rep. Frank Pallone, D-Long Branch -- say they won't run if Lautenberg runs again. It's unlikely any other Democrat would have the stature to knock out Lautenberg, political observers say, giving the incumbent a strong shot at keeping his seat in a majority-Democratic state.
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Lautenberg earned media prominence this year by blocking an Arab company's bid to take over some cargo-terminal operations in Newark, New York, Philadelphia and three other U.S. ports. He has remained one of the GOP's most vocal critics since he returned four years ago; he nabbed headlines in 2004 by ridiculing Vice President Cheney as a "chickenhawk" for belittling Democratic challenger John Kerry's Vietnam War record.
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