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But Republicans got a good candidate in Chris Myers, a Lockheed Martin executive and mayor of Medford. Myers was backed by Saxton before the Republican primary and an early September GOP poll showed the race to be a statistical tossup.

Myers’ biggest weakness might be a lack of campaign cash. Coming off an expensive primary fight in early June, he reported $155,000 in cash on hand at the end of the second quarter.

Republicans have been working hard to provide Myers with the money he needs and, in mid- September, President Bush made a trip to New Jersey to fundraise for Myers. Meanwhile, Freedom’s Watch, a conservative 501(c)(4), has already begun to spend money in the district in an effort to help Myers make up the cash gap.

But even with all of Adler’s cash, national Democrats are coming in with additional financial support for his campaign. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has reserved more than $1.5 million in airtime in the district and had already dropped hundreds of thousands of dollars in independent expenditures in the district through late September.

5th district
Incumbent: Scott Garrett (R)
3rd term (55 percent)
Outlook: Likely Republican

In three races against Garrett, no Democrat has taken more than 44 percent of the vote. And though state and national Democrats are high on their intriguing candidate, Dennis Shulman, there is little doubt that the open seats in the Garden State’s 3rd and 7th districts present better pickup opportunities this cycle.

Shulman is a Harvard-educated psychologist and ordained rabbi who has been blind since he was a teenager. He easily won his three-way primary in June and Democrats believe the anti-incumbent, anti- Republican environment this cycle could help push Shulman over the top despite the fact that the district gave President Bush a 14-point victory in 2004.

Shulman had $258,000 in cash on hand at the end of June compared with Garrett’s $649,000. And Shulman will probably have to make up the fundraising gap on his own as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hadn’t reserved any television time in this district and is likely to spend heavily in the state’s two open seats.

7th district
Open seat: Mike Ferguson (R) is retiring
Outlook: Tossup

After losing by just 1 point in her 2006 race against Ferguson, state Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D) is now running in an open-seat contest that Democrats are calling one of their best pickup opportunities of 2008.

Stender had $1.2 million in cash on hand at the end of June. And the national party is kicking in large amounts of cash in the 7th district race. National Democrats have reserved almost $1 million in airtime in the district leading up to Election Day and have already been spending heavily there.

Republicans, meanwhile, had a crowded and somewhat divisive primary this summer, but they emerged with a strong nominee in state Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance, who supports abortion rights and gets strong support from environmental groups.

Lance essentially started from scratch in terms of available campaign funds after his primary, but he’s received fundraisinig help from party bigwigs including President Bush.

An August poll done for Stender’s campaign showed her with a 3-point lead over the state Senator, taking 36 percent to Lance’s 33 percent with two Independent candidates combining for 11 percent and 20 percent of voters undecided. But the poll had a 4.4-point margin of error. So, as many observers have predicted, the race continues to be too close to call.

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13th district
Open seat: Vito Fossella (R) is retiring
Outlook: Likely Democratic