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.
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.