Now the cash rebuilding effort begins for Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ).
Coming off of a blowout victory over South Jersey challenger U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-1)in the Democratic Primary, Lautenberg is starting with $1.3 million in the bank inmid-summer as he heads toward his November mano-a-mano with Republican candidate and former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer.
The Lautenberg campaign spent $5 million against the upstart Andrews, according to sources close to the U.S. Senator.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), chair of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC) had feared a Lautenbergdollar drain, and quickly went to the phones to try to take the steam out of Andrews when the congressman pawed the turfin the late days of April.
The party establishmentultimately failedto prevent Andrews from getting inthe race against the incumbent, and the money in television advertising, staff augmentation, opposition research, mail and radioadded up to a Lautenberg muscle flexing win that hasnow forcedthe campaign back into gear-up mode.
Part of the rebuilding effort involves Lautenberg'shiring earlier this week of finance director Samantha Maltzman,formerly finance director for the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY).
