"People feel powerless. They go to the polls and vote on Election Day and feel like whoever they put in, nothing changes," Russell said.
The renewed GOP ideas, he said, "are coming to the floor again because by walking away from those things in 1994, they did a disservice to the country."
Runyan's opponent, Democratic U.S. Rep. John Adler, who opposes term limits, indicated that if his Republican predecessor, U.S. Rep. James Saxton, had been subject to a term limit, the district's mega-military base never would not exist.
"If there were term limits, the nation's first triservice joint base might be in another state," Adler's campaign manager, Geoff Mackler, said in an e-mailed statement.
Saxton was in office 24 years and is credited with helping combine Fort Dix, McGuire Air Force Base, and the Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station into what is now known as Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
The project took years at a time when the military was closing and cutting back bases around the country.
Adler also favors a balanced budget and has voted against some spending bills.
As for Runyan, he says term limits are necessary because Washington has become too self-referential. "People are so entrenched in Washington and Trenton," he said. "It's broken and it's obvious we need to do something."
Runyan isn't alone in calling for the balanced budget or term limits this year.
Andy Harris, a Republican running in Maryland's First District, which covers the Eastern Shore area, wants a constitutional amendment limiting congressional terms. Stephen Fincher, a Republican running in Tennessee, also calls for limits.
