You might have heard Senator Frank Lautenberg, running for re-election at age 84, declare age is "irrelevant" in this contest.  At the Philadelphia Inquirer, he even said, "the [Andrews campaign] write[s] the insinuating stuff about confused and age and all that."  But he didn't always think age was irrelevant.  Twenty-five years ago, a 58-year old Frank Lautenberg ran for the Senate against a 72-year old woman named Millicent Fenwick. He made age a big issue in that campaign -- and in 2001, he revealed why:

In campaigns there are few barriers...the last thing I wanted to do was assault her, but I thought it was important to remind voters of age because to develop a standing [in the Senate], starting out in your seventies it would be harder to garner seniority and ranking positions. [Source: Her Way by Millicent Fenwick, p. 208]

Senator Lautenberg's hypocrisy is simply stunning. He was perfectly willing to use age as an issue when it helped him, but insists that age cannot be a factor when it might hurt him. Despite his lengthy first run in the Senate, Lautenberg only has six years of seniority, making it difficult for him to garner seniority or ranking positions. Given what he said in 2001, shouldn't Lautenberg answer the same question and explain why his opinion has changed? Does he really play with one set of rules while holding everyone else to a different standard?

Lautenberg told the Philadelphia Inquirer last week, "If Andrews has nothing more than my age to worry about, then he's in bad shape. I can tell you that." But despite Lautenberg's defensiveness, this campaign is not about age.  It's about effectiveness.  With rising gas prices and a shrinking economy, Andrews and New Jersey voters wonder why Lautenberg supports trade deals that send our jobs overseas. Why does he keep hiding behind campaign aides instead of campaigning throughout New Jersey? Isn't it time to bring some change to the U.S. Senate?