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Posted on 10/02/2002 9:23:35 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Plan B, as it simply came to be known, was born during a rare rainy evening in mid-July.
Leading Democrats from a dozen large New Jersey counties arranged a conference call to talk about the reelection campaign of Sen. Robert G. Torricelli, which they believed would be a disaster.
"Were we worried? 'Worried' wasn't the word - 'terrified' is much more like it," said one North Jersey Democrat who took part in the two-hour phone call. "We didn't care so much that Bob Torricelli was going to lose - good riddance. We cared that all the little people on the ticket were going to pay the price as well."
So at a time when most New Jerseyans were probably thinking a lot more about a shore vacation than partisan politics, Democratic leaders quietly hatched a plan to undermine Torricelli, even as the first-term incumbent prepared to fight for his political life against an unknown Republican challenger.
Interviews this week with a half-dozen party leaders show that a nervous Democratic establishment long ago resolved to rid their ticket of the hobbled U.S. Senate candidate as soon he fell behind in internal party polls.
Party leaders interviewed for this story said they would only speak on condition of anonymity. Several said they feared public statements could undermine their ability to influence party strategy in the coming weeks. Others said they had been long-time Torricelli supporters and did not want to appear critical.
Little support
The Democrats said that key party members began sending Torricelli clear messages, even before Labor Day, that they would not campaign for him as they had for Jim McGreevey in 2001 or Jon Corzine the year before. It also became clear Torricelli would have a hard time getting the Democratic vote machine cranked up for what was seen as a losing cause.
Without a strong get-out-the-vote effort on Election Day, Torricelli would be left without the critical support of his political base in population centers across the state. In recent weeks, Democratic sources said, contributions to the state party had slowed to a trickle, and many partisans feared there would not be nearly enough to mount a serious Election Day effort.
"A lot of people had decided to turn their back on 'Torch' a long time ago," one Democrat said. "I don't think it was a big surprise to them that he dropped out. I think the surprise was that he stayed in as long as he did."
So why did party leaders allow Torricelli to stay in the race so long - most importantly, beyond the mid-September deadline for easily replacing him on the ballot?
Several Democrats said efforts to dump Torricelli suffered a setback in early September, when public-opinion polls showed he was virtually tied with GOP businessman Douglas R. Forrester of West Windsor. The polls came after Torricelli was severely admonished by the Senate Judiciary Committee for improperly accepting gifts from a supporter, jailed Cresskill commodities trader David Chang.
Internal party polls showed Torricelli holding strong throughout the first two to three weeks of September. It was during that time that Torricelli successfully began to take attention off his ethical foibles and place it on Forrester, who appeared ill-prepared in two head-to-head debates.
"We knew that some elements of the party were against us, but we were gaining a ton of traction, we were making Forrester look like the goon he is," one Torricelli strategist said.
"Things were shaping up for us. We were headed in the right direction if we could keep the discussion off David Chang."
As late as last week, party leaders said, internal polls of likely voters showed that while Torricelli's support was soft, it was still sizable.
The turning point came Thursday, when the U.S. Attorney's Office released a nine-page document bolstering allegations by Chang that went beyond the matters in the Senate Ethics Committee report.
Release of the document was ordered by a federal appeals court, ruling in favor of a motion brought by news media organizations, including The Record.
At the same time, NBC-TV aired an extraordinary 38-minute jailhouse interview with Chang. Party polls showed that the interview was widely viewed in New Jersey.
Internal party polls, which focused on crucial Democratic voters, showed that Torricelli's support was dropping like a rock.
"It was looking like Torricelli would lose by as much as 60 percent to 40 percent," one party insider said.
Such a landslide, this Democrat said, could bring down the entire state Democratic ticket. Most notably, Democratic leaders feared that Rep. Rush Holt, the incumbent Democratic congressman, might lose to former state Secretary of State Buster Soaries in his central New Jersey district.
The same was true of Anne Sumers, who is vying with E. Scott Garrett, the conservative state legislator, for a congressional seat in a district that runs across the top of the state, from Bergen to Sussex counties, and is considered a GOP stronghold. And finally, Democrats were concerned that their candidates in county executive races in Bergen and Essex counties might be dragged down by Torricelli.
Democrats say Governor McGreevey and other key party leaders were working to remove Torricelli, who was invited to a Sunday evening meeting at the governor's mansion with the governor, Corzine, former state Sen. John Lynch, and George Norcross, an influential Camden County Democrat.
Different stories
All reportedly wanted Torricelli to drop - or at least consider withdrawing. But he left the meeting unconvinced that he should drop out even though he knew top Democrats were wavering.
Several sources close to Torricelli said the senator, despite his plummeting popularity, was under no pressure from party leaders in Trenton or Washington to quit the race. In fact, the sources said, he had received encouraging phone calls from Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle and other key Democrats. The sources said Torricelli made the decision to quit on Sunday morning all by himself, convinced that he could jeopardize Democratic control of the Senate if he fought on and lost.
"McGreevey, [U.S. Sen Jon] Corzine, Daschle, everyone tried to talk him out of it," one of the sources said. "It was Bob's decision, and Bob's alone."
But other sources told a different tale. They maintained that news of the Sunday meeting was leaked to The Wall Street Journal and other news organizations early Monday in an attempt to push Torricelli toward the door. Party leaders behind the leak were convinced that Torricelli could now never regain control of the campaign.
"It looked as if this story would not go away," said a Democratic source familiar with the meeting.
By Monday, Torricelli had no one defending him - not even Corzine, sources told The Record. Daschle and Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe were courting Bill Bradley, the former New Jersey senator who ran for president in 2000.
"The irony is that Torricelli is a brilliant man who did great things for his party and the people of New Jersey," said one Democrat close to McGreevey.
"But nobody really admired him as a person, and a lot of us couldn't stand him.
"So in the end, I think a lot of people are just relieved he's gone away."
Interviews this week with a half-dozen party leaders show that a nervous Democratic establishment long ago resolved to rid their ticket of the hobbled U.S. Senate candidate as soon he fell behind in internal party polls.
So the Dem leadership could have acted over a month ago ... but chose to wait. This should be Exhibit A in the GOP legal presentation to SCONJ. The Dems could have cleaned this up well before the 51 day limit. BUT THEY WENT TO FAR AS TO LET TORCH GIVE THE DEM RESPONSE LAST SATURDAY TO BUSH'S RADIO ADDRESS. Hardly the sign of a group trying to get rid of Torch at the first opportunity.
Good riddance to the "little people on the ticket" as well.
He is neither brilliant nor did he do great things for New Jersey. I am sure,however,that he did what could be considered "great things" for his party. Corruption,graft and undermining national security are considered "great things" when you're a Democrat.
On another point - I wonder if our gay governor's boyfriend had attended this meeting? You know - just to be there for him during his first test against the Don clinton.
It supports what I suspected about Democrats in New Jersey. They were always uncomfortable with Torricelli and his corrupt politics! It is the Big Names in the Party that are responsible for the corruption of the Democratic Party ... Kennedy, the Clintons, Dash-Hole, Geb-phart and on and on.
Also significant is the fact that the media caused the destruction of the Torch .... and the NBC special report with an interview with Chang was important!
I think we will see the NJ Supremes handle this case in an honorable manner. And I think the voters in NJ will vote in an honorable way....
Personally, I think voters are ready to reject the destructive antics of the Clintons, Dash-hole, Kennedy and Geb-phart!
The 'Rats timed this out perfectly. We'll have a week or two of unsettled legal wrangling, and then a 'Rat challenger will emerge. The dumb sheep who vote 'Rat habitually will be so relieved to have a candidate that they will fight each other to kiss his feet, no matter how unappetizing the eventual 'Rat choice. Some bogus poll will be run that shows the 'Rat challenger neck-and-neck, giving him instant credibility. The 'Rat can then spend the next three weeks doing the standard 'Rat hatchet job on Forrester (He wants to poison the air, starve the children, force your daughter to bear his child, etc), and Forrester will not have an ample opportunity to respond.
If the NJSC allows this, they have completely abandoned their collective responsibility. Democrats should be allowed to lose elections in the Garden State. The fact that Torricelli was down in the polls does not mean there has to be a Constitutional crisis.
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