He faces former Republican Congressman Dick Zimmer, a self-described fiscal conservative who until the spring had worked in recent years as a lobbyist. Zimmer represented a district in central New Jersey in Congress for four years in the early to mid 1990s before losing a 1996 U.S. Senate bid and then a subsequent attempt to regain the congressional seat now held by U.S. Rep. Rush Holt.

The media and Zimmer have criticized Lautenberg, who holds double-digit lead in polls, for the low-profile campaign he has run so far. Aides said the campaign would be more active with the senate in recess.

The senator has made recent local visits, they said, including a fundraiser for state Sen. Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, and other events in Atlantic City casinos.

Aides said he will also take part in four newspaper editorial board meetings and is negotiating others. Beyond a scheduled debate on the New Jersey Network on Nov. 1, they said there will be a radio debate on New Jersey 101.5 FM as well as a separate candidates forum in northern New Jersey.

In his spirited campaign speech to the union leaders Tuesday, Lautenberg attacked national Republicans for creating the current economic problems and urged people to vote for him and other Democrats next month.

"They have a policy," Lautenberg said. "They would give everything to people who have everything and nothing to people who have very little. That's been the policy of this administration and that's why we've got to get every vote, every person out there who thinks about the future of this country, to go ahead and vote and make sure all of your friends turn out, everybody you know who is registered, and get them to the election polling places."

He supported the right of workers to organize, mentioning 4,000 casino employees who voted to be represented by the United Auto Workers union last year but have not reached contracts with their respective casinos.

Mentioning President Bush and Republican presidential candidate John McCain, he took a swipe at Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, saying "she doesn't have a lot of sense, but she has no soul either."

Asked as he walked out why someone should vote for him over Zimmer, Lautenberg said, "All you have to do is look at the record, the effectiveness that I have brought as a senator." He attacked Zimmer's work as a lobbyist, saying he had represented oil companies, and his time in the congress, saying Zimmer voted to eliminate the federal Department of Education.

A quick drive later, Lautenberg stood on a hastily constructed platform at the under construction Revel casino site with Atlantic City mayoral candidate Lorenzo Langford, South Jersey Building Trades President Will Pauls and other officials. Dozens of workers in hardhats and fluorescent safety vests gathered around the platform while someone turned off the roaring Putzmeister concrete pump so they could hear the senator.

Lautenberg touted Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's intelligence in an eight-minute speech. He attacked Republicans and got laughs and applause when he attacked McCain's recent assessment of the economy as fundamentally strong.

"Look - let me talk frank to you," Lautenberg said. "If it feels like it, looks like it and smells like it, you know what it is, right?

From there, they hit to the landmark White House Sub Shop on North Mississippi Avenue.

The senator shook hands with voters and then had a meatball sub while three aides dined on steak and cheese sandwiches.

Northfield resident Tom Whaley and Lautenberg briefly spared over the $700 billion bank bailout bill, while tourists Barbara and Bob McCreanor, visiting from New York City, said meeting Lautenberg was a highlight. Said Bob McCreanor, "I think he's a good man."

Waiting for his food, Lautenberg said southern New Jersey would do better with improved transportation options. He said he was excited about the proposed NJ Transit train that would run between New York City and the resort.

The tourism industry should be protected, he added, and opposed any more offshore oil drilling than is currently allowed. Even proposed Virginia drilling is too close, he said.

"People think that drilling will get them cheaper gas, but it doesn't work that way," he said.

E-mail Derek Harper:

dharper@pressofac.com