"It's virtually impossible, in projecting that message, to divorce that message from the fact that Millicent Fenwick was a woman."

I don't get it. Is the implication that women are old?

Wouldn't Lautenberg actually be a few weeks shy of his 91st birthday at the end of his next term? His date of birth is January 23, 1924.

So Andrews made a hard-hitting ad that makes some suggestions that may not be factually accurate. Lautenberg has been doing that since day one in the campaign, even creating a faux Bush-Andrews website to push misinformation. Of course, Lautenberg has been ducking debates, avoiding campaigning in the state, and having his surrogates (Pallone, Roginsky) do his work for him. We haven't really had him working in or living in New Jersey for years.

So, wouldn't "It's hard when your own words come back to haunt you" be a more powerful attack if the ad actually used Lautenberg's own words rather than just paraphrasing them?

Rob Andrews, aside from running a lame ad campaign, is a pretty big moron. First, there's a pretty decent chance that Lautenberg will resign or die before his next term is up, and that there will be a Democratic governor in New Jersey who will have the chance to choose his successor. Before this campaign, Andrews would have had a solid claim that he should be appointed; now that he's shown that he's not a team player, and that (once again -- for people who remember the 1997 gubernatorial primary he lost to Jim McGreevey) he's a lousy state-wide campaigner, I don't see him getting that shot. Second, why does Andrews care so much about serving in the Senate anyway? He sits in a safe House district, has a lot of seniority for a relatively young guy, and is part of a solid and increasing Democratic majority in the House. If he worked hard in the House he could amass significant power and accomplish a great deal. Third, he apparently thinks a guy with zero name recognition in North Jersey (i.e., the part of the state with all the people) will have success running FROM THE RIGHT against a longtime Democratic incumbent in a Democratic primary in a Democratic year in an increasingly liberal state. Idiot.

To spell out what's going on in this particular ad, Andrews is saying that since Lautenberg used age as a campaign issue in 1982, its ok for Andrews to use age as a campaign issue in 2008.

What Andrews' ad says, however, appears to be hearsay. It doesn't cite when in 1982 Lautenberg used age, nor does it actually quote Lautenberg. What we in effect learn from the ad is that in the opinion of the Andrews campaign, Lautenberg used an age attack.

The one bona fide new fact from the ad is that the Andrews campaign attacks Lautenberg's age.

The ad demonstrates the character and thinking of an entire political campaign team. They think they can insult senior citizens to win an election. They obviously don't put enough effort into the thinking part, and I'm at a loss regarding their character.