Senator Torch

TownHall.com ^ | 9/05/02 | George Will

[kattracks]

UNION CITY, N.J.--A New Jersey joke: ``Why do people take an instant dislike to Sen. Robert Torricelli? To save time.'' Douglas Forrester believes that Torricelli--who has been hauled before the ethics committees of both houses of Congress--is making New Jersey the butt of jokes. So on this day Forrester, corporate gray in his suit and temperament, is splashing through rain puddles, shaking Hispanic hands, trying to become the first Republican elected to the Senate from this state in 30 years. Forrester, 49, is a former seminarian challenging the man known as the Torch because he scorches opponents by (as one observer puts it) using ``the temper tantrum as a communication tool.'' Forrester says, ``The idea that New Jersey is not normal needs to be dispelled.''

[maica]

---
Torricelli says being a Republican is a character flaw, as is running a pharmacy benefits management company, which Forrester does. PBMs, which serve 190 million Americans, are hired, at the recommendation of independent consultants, to be middlemen between pharmaceutical companies and insurers (governments, companies). PBMs broker reduced costs for pharmaceuticals, for which service they make a profit. Torricelli is scandalized. But the pharmaceutical industry is New Jersey's largest, and Torricelli has received more pharmaceutical industry contributions than any other Senate candidate. ---


Good article. Of course it will get wide publicity! Not!

Encouraging, though. Maybe NJers would rather have a 'moderate' Republican senator, than an out-and-out sleazeball.

[gridlock]

I think the Torch is going down. The Demoncrats should have gotten smart and forced him to resign. Any of a dozen Demoncratic hacks could have beat Forrester handily, because the voters could have been scared about what would happen with a Republican Senate. Forrester against an Unnamed Demoncratic Challenger, a Rat-To-Be-Named-Later, would have been a cakewalk for the Rat. But Torricelli is just too tainted to survive.

[DM1]

i hope that you are right and the GOP picks up this seat.

[maica]

Let's hope he is too vain to step down at the last moment 'for the good of the party' and do to New Jersey what happened in Missouri when Carnahan died and was voted in anyway.

[river rat]

Those of us in Kalifornicate - can't really complain too much about the Senators other states send to Washington....
After all -- we sent Boxer and Swinestine
But - if New Jersey returns the Torch to Washington - I may start to believe everything I ever heard about NJ.
Semper Fi

[Coop]

Stuart Rothenburg just changed his prediction for this seat to "Likely Takeover." Unless I'm mistaken, it's the only seat in that category - it's more at risk than SD, AR, MN, MO or NH.

[jmaroneps37]

I know this is purely anecdotal but; I know for certain that at Labor Day parade in Bergin county, people were walking up to the Torch and calling him a crook to his face. Also people are telling other rats that if the campaign with the Torch they will be toast themselves.

[BrookdalePark]

Omigolly this is funny. I love George Will to death.

But I am still utterly pessimistic. I fear that in the end, too many of the "8 million Tony Sopranos" here will pull the Torricelli lever because A. This guy's name is vaguely familiar, and the other guy's isn't, and B. Torricelli is the name in the Democrat column.

But if anyone who's paying any attention at all and is still on the fence sees this, it will make a difference. This column is brilliant.

I am, however, getting faint and disoriented trying to picture George Will wandering around Union City.

[eureka!]

Re#8 That's the type of anecdotal evidence I really like to hear...