Schiff would be disrupting the plans of Rob Simmons, a Republican congressman from 2001 to 2007 who is already running against Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), but he’d be the latest candidate from the sprawling movement of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). Dozens of 2008 Republican candidates (and at least one Democrat) ran on Paul’s banner and ideas, and just this month Paul-endorsed candidate Steve Lonegan lost a heated Republican primary for governor of New Jersey, scoring 41 percent of the vote. When lightning strikes, Paul-backed candidates can raise a lot of money, get media coverage, and shift their GOP rivals to the right.

1) The New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial campaigns are this year’s only major races. There is nowhere else to get your political fix.

2) This primary will test the viability of Republican candidates who try to play to the party’s extremes, as opposed to taking a more centrist approach. The winner will try to unseat Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine in November (this race was previously considered a sure-thing for Corzine, but recent polls show he could be vulnerable).

In New Jersey’s  Republican primary, one of the contenders is the very conservative former small-town mayor, Steve Lonegan, up against relative moderate Chris Christie, a former U.S. attorney. Lonegan, whose campaign argued yesterday that Republicans should support him because the “liberal” media endorsed Christie, intends to lure voters by trotting out people like the anti-illegal immigration Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrest and ideas like a flat income tax rate of 2.9 percent to inspire the far-right.

Lonegan today accused Christie of ignoring the “illegal alien” problem because he only brought 13 cases against illegal immigrants in seven years as U.S. attorney. From a Lonegan campaign statement:

Chris Christie thinks illegal immigration is not a crime and his record as U.S. Attorney –virtually ignoring the problem–proves that’s his real position. As Governor, I will roll up [current Democratic Gov. Jon] Corzine’s red carpet for illegals and take back our state, before it’s too late.

Christie, who’s been bashed for having a foggy agenda and changing his abortion stance (he’s now pro-life), is expected to be endorsed Thursday by former GOP presidential candidate and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (who is no stranger to abortion flip-flopping himself). However, some suspect Romney made the last-minute pick to shore up Garden State support for a potential 2012 presidential campaign.

Lonegan also recently won the backing of another Republican who sought the presidential nomination last year: fellow tax foe, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

Although polls have long called Christie the favorite, recent reports note slight movement to the right by Christie — indicating he may be worried about the effectiveness of Lonegan’s strategy with some Republican primary voters.

Steve Lonegan is strong advocate of free markets. I was very impressed by his record of budget restraint as Mayor of Bogota, NJ. He has been a vocal critic of runaway spending and taxpayer funded bailouts, and he understands that we must reject the nanny state and return government to its proper, restrained role. Sending Steve Lonegan to Trenton would be a tremendous victory for the people of New Jersey. That is why I am supporting Steve Lonegan for New Jersey Governor.

Lonegan typically polls behind Chris Christie, the frontrunner, in trial heats with Gov. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.). And Paul’s efforts for Murray Sabrin, a supporter who ran for the 2008 U.S. Senate nomination in New Jersey, did not prevent Sabrin from eventually losing to underfunded moderate candidate Dick Zimmer.