Torricelli's dropping out the easy part (legal particulars of Democrats' Torricelli Shuffle)

This is from the NRO:

What the Democrats could to is this: Acknowledge that they are stuck with Torricelli on the ballot. Torricelli promises that if he is elected, he will promptly resign. Then, Governor McGreevey could appoint a Democratic replacement with fewer ethical problems. The replacement could serve until the 2004 general election (although another New Jersey statute gives McGreevey the discretion to call a special election sooner). The Democrats, Torricelli, and McGreevey could even announce in advance who the replacement would be. Voters who trust Torricelli to keep his promise and actually resign, and who want a Democrat to hold the seat, could then vote for Torricelli with a clear conscience.

In this instance, the governor could call a special election--but only if Torricelli agrees to resign after being re-elected and that you could trust him to keep his agreement.

In the MO case where Mel Carnahan was elected even though dead, the MO governor announced in advance of the election that Jean Carnahan would serve in Mel's place, if Mel won. So in essence, a vote for Mel was a vote for Jean, even though she wasn't even on the ballot.

In the instance outlined by NRO, a vote for Torch would be a vote for whomever McGreevey said he would appoint to fill Torch's term, if Torch won and then resigned.

We were discussing that same scenario yesterday. It was called the "Live Carnahan" scenario. Given that we are talking about NJ, it would probably work. However, Torch is said to hate Lautenberg, so it would probably have to be someone other than him, and Lautenberg wants it. So they may have a problem there.

Let's hope that these transparent efforts to circumvent the law will galvanize voters in other states into several upsets of democratic candidates.

"ON local talk radio this morning, (in Pittsburgh) I heard several Dems call in, including one elected official and one party ward chariman, who said that what the Dems are trying to do in Jersey is over the top. They said that the only legal option and the correct thing to do is to mount a write-in campaign for another Democrat candidate.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.