Mike Ferguson

The biggest Republican names are begging off of an unexpected—and very winnable for the G.O.P.—Congressional race in New Jersey. Republican Michael Ferguson, a 37-year-old 4th termer, announced yesterday that he won't seek re-election to his 7th District seat next year, and already former Congressman Bob Franks (who held the seat from 1992-2000), state Senator Tom Kean, Jr. (who ran for the seat against Ferguson in 2000 and for the U.S. Senate last year) and Assembly Minority Whip Jon Bramnick, have all declined to run.

Why?

More after the jump.  read more »

Two high-profile retirements today -- one in sports, one in politics -- have put wannabe successors in exceedingly tough spots.

At the University of Michigan, coach Lloyd Carr's retirement should open the door for LSU's Les Miles, who played and served as an assistant at Michigan. But Miles is in the thick of the national championship hunt at LSU, which won't be resolved until the second week of January, making this a very inconvenient time to conduct any kind of job negotiations with another school.

And in New Jersey, fourth-term Republican Congressman Mike Ferguson's surprise decision to leave the House leaves Tom Kean, last year's G.O.P. Senate candidate against Bob Menendez, as the logical Republican heir apparent.

More after the jump.  read more »

New Jersey may host three of the most competitive House races in the country next year.  read more »

Mike Ferguson, a conservative Republican who was re-elected to his suburban New Jersey seat by less than two percent of the vote last year, just announced that he would vote against the resolution condemning the escalation of the war.

The youthful and ambitious pol, who engaged in some rather embarrassing district-shopping before winning his 7th District seat in 2000, nearly saw his political career collapse last November, when Democratic Assemblywoman Linda Stender mounted a strong challenge by criticizing Ferguson's loyalty to the House GOP leadership.

She is considering challenging him again next year -- and his vote against this resolution now figures to feature prominently in that campaign.

-- Steve Kornacki