Torch has ALWAYS been thought of as corrupt (kind of like John Gotti being a "zipper salesman"), but that has not stopped him from being elected numerous times.
But the Chang thing was the first real thing the idiot voters of NJ could actually put their hands on, and say, "Hey, you know what, this guy took watches and gifts for favors - he's corrupt".
That's alot different than the speculation and general opinion that he was corrupt, because before Chang, there was nothing the average non-attentive voter could understand. The Chang thing made even the idiots understand.
Whether it was the long-term exposure to news about Chang or simply Torricelli's crooked reputation (or perhaps a combination thereof) that caused his numbers to dive matters little, IMHO. His re-elect numbers were weak well before he was admonished. Yet I was still hearing from "everyone" how Torch couldn't be beaten. The official reprimand simply sped Forrester into a lead more quickly than I would have anticipated. (I figured the Inouye and the Dems would stall that until after the election.)