Posted on 10/01/2002 4:30:04 PM PDT by Liz
Couldn't have said it better myself. So schadenfreud-ish in that Torricelli's forced exit from the race b/c he is an ethical nightmare for Dems tuns into a Dem nightmare to replace him.
The current election is under way. I guess they could stop EVERYTHING in New Jersey and begin counting those 51 days - starting today! That would put New Jersey's election around November 20th. (I'm surprised the RATS haven't come up with this themselves...)
-PJ
Wouldn't that violate Federal law? Er, not that that has ever bothered the Dems before.
Thuggery on grainy black and white video is not the stuff political comebacks are made of.
What the hell is going on the the Dems? It's like the edifices are all falling and crashing into each other.
First insane, incoherent, out of control speeches by 2 leading members (Gore and Daschle) on consecutive days.
Kennedy and Byrd then amplify the stupidity and reconfirm their irrelevancy.
Then other prominent members (Bonior) offer aid and comfort on Iraqi soil the following week. McDermott overtly sides with Saddam over Bush.
Then, the next day an uncontrollable corruption scandal forces out another Democratic leader (Toricelli). One who had given a national Democratic position speech over the weekend!
Meanwhile, a major segment of the Democratic leadership is now in direct opposition to the two-thirds of Americans who took them at their very words of just a few years ago that Saddam was an unacceptable danger (Clinton, Gore, Daschle, Byrd). Now after 4 years of unsupervised acquisitions, Saddam, they argue is no longer a threat!
These people have lost it.
They were just defeated in a Presidential election against all historical odds. They are about to lose seats in both houses against all historical odds, and in a year with many more Republican seats up for grabs!
The current political dynamic appears to have the individual leaders in a race to the left, which is disastrous for the party as a whole. It's like a 'runaway greenhouse effect' -- a positive feedback process between overheated liberal rhetoric, and simmering anxious liberal outrage.
Can you just imgaine their response when Bush starts appointing judges with Talent in office on November 3? Watch out for spontaneous combustion.
They're gonna violate something! Might as well be this!
How big of a mess would they have on their hands if they told everyone to write-in their vote? Now, imagine Palm Beach doing it...
After thinking about it for a while, I've come to the conclusion that the NJ Supremes will most likely not allow the Torch's name to be replaced with someone else. It's called "precedence". Unless they can come up with some peculiarity about this specific election, if they allow the DemocRATs to prevail, every time in the future, when a candidate is losing, he can quit and get replaced by someone else. That's a nightmare and I doubt that the NJ Supremes would want that.
That would leave the DemocRATs with one of two solutions:
1. The Torch resigns the Senate and McGreevy names a replacement. As far as I know, there is no guarantee that the replacement could get on the ballot (see above) and the replacement's term would end when Torricelli's ends - January 2003.
2. The Torch stays on the ballot and tells people that, if he wins, he will resign immediately and then McGreevy can name anyone to serve the six year term. The downside - can they trust the Torch? And would the sheeple of NJ buy into it?
If the law means anything, the DemocRATs seem to be screwed.
That's my conclusion. Look at how the dems tried to float two lesser lights for the job who refused,(another embarassment) and now it looks like 78 year old former senator Lautenberg might get the shot.
And to further complicate things the Torch may not want to give his campaign money to Lautenburg,who does not like Torrecelli..
Lautenberg could have some family resistance to another run, if he has to fund it himself. I'm sure Lautenberg's heirs don't want him spending their inheritance on the campaign. At 78 years of age, Lautenberg is not likely to get it back. Don't run Frank; think of the family. - Tom
The plot thickens.
Will Rogers never met Bill Clinton.
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