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Switcheroo? J-pod doesn't think so...

Re: Senator Kean [John Podhoretz]
Lots of e-mails about how New Jersey's Democrats will just dump Robert Menendez in the next few weeks for former interim Gov. Dick Codey — just as Bob Torricelli quit the race and allowed former Sen. Frank Lautenberg to waltz in. Sorry. Not gonna happen this time. Tom Kean is just too credible a candidate, far more palatable to New Jersey voters than Doug Forrester was in either of his last two races. You can play that switcheroo once. You can even play another game like resigning but delaying your resignation until after Election Day, as the sleazy McGreevey did in 2004. But that's the limit. The Democrat who takes the nomination after a Menendez drop-out will be a state laughingstock, and under those circumstances, Kean will win in a landslide.

I agree - I think the switcheroo would really be the death knell for the Democrats this time. "Fool me once" and all that. Tom Kean was leading in this race before any of the corruption stuff came out about Menendez anyway, and he will beat anybody else they put on the ballot. My guess is the Dems just take their lumps on this one and try to take Kean out in 2012.

Re: Senator Kean [John Podhoretz] Lots of e-mails about how New Jersey's Democrats will just dump Robert Menendez in the next few weeks for former interim Gov. Dick Codey -- just as Bob Torricelli quit the race and allowed former Sen. Frank Lautenberg to waltz in. Sorry. Not gonna happen this time. Tom Kean is just too credible a candidate, far more palatable to New Jersey voters than Doug Forrester was in either of his last two races. You can play that switcheroo once. You can even play another game like resigning but delaying your resignation until after Election Day, as the sleazy McGreevey did in 2004. But that's the limit. The Democrat who takes the nomination after a Menendez drop-out will be a state laughingstock, and under those circumstances, Kean will win in a landslide.

I like John Podhoretz but he doesn't understand anything goes in NJ. The DIMS will do anything to keep this seat because if they don't win there is no way they can gain control of the Senate.

FWIW the rumor is that the Dems are lining up the guy who served the remainder of McGreevey's term to pinch hit for Menendez. I grew up in New Jersey and I don't put anything past these people. Practically everybody in the government of my town died in jail.

I must respectfully disaggree with John Podheretz on this one.

If Menendez goes down, people are going to resent Kean for taking him down. They will be looking for an alternative.

After our long state-wide soap opera over the resignation of McGreevey, Codey had goodwill in spades as the steady father-figure who calmed the waters. He can come in and do that again. If Codey is on the ballot, he will win at a walk.

The only way to prevent that is to prevent him from getting on the ballot. The time to do that is now. If Menendez tries to quit, the sensible remedy is for the NJ Supreme Court to deny him the right to quit. Once he is gone, they will put Codey on the ballot. Kean must act now to prevent Menendez from quitting.

He should publically file a brief with the NJ Supreme Court immediately, stating explicitly that Menendez must not be allowed to remove himself from the ballot. When Menendez goes to quit, the consensus must be that he shall not be allowed to do so. For once there is a vacancy, Codey is on the ballot and he is in like Flynn.