In television ads and home mailings, the candidates in New Jersey's closest congressional race already are resorting to caricatures, and the general election is still weeks away.
Runyan and Adler are fully engaged so early because they have to be.
Though it traditionally tilts Republican, the Third District - which covers most of Burlington and Ocean Counties, and includes Cherry Hill in Camden County - has a strong independent streak. In 2008, voters elected Adler their first Democratic representative in decades. Last year, they swung to Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher J. Christie.
Of the district's 456,000 registered voters, 211,750 - the largest group - are unaffiliated or belong to smaller parties and are up for grabs. There are 131,100 registered Democrats and 113,150 Republicans.
With Democrats sagging in popularity polls nationwide, Adler is running like an underdog.
He began his television ad campaign late last month with a spot that ridiculed Runyan for using the state's farmland-assessment program to reduce property taxes on his 25-acre estate.
Runyan - a first-time political candidate - last year paid a $468 tax on 20 acres where he grazes four donkeys and harvests timber, and $57,000 on five acres and his residence. The tax break is entirely legal.
The attacks were so fierce that even before Labor Day, the traditional campaign kick-off, Runyan had responded with his "pants on fire" mailing.
Adler's first TV ad launched on cable on Aug. 31. Runyan's debut cable TV ad, which began Aug. 19, attacked his opponent as a free-spending liberal clone of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Adler voted with Pelosi 90 percent of the time, the ad charged.
Adler's campaign says that he was named one of the nation's most independent congressmen by Congressional Quarterly, and that he voted against the bank bailout and President Obama's health care plan.
