NEW JERSEY'S NEW MOTTO--"AT LEAST WE AREN'T HAITI":

Lautenberg gets nod (Trenton Times, October 02, 2002

For Daschle and other national Democrats, Lautenberg was the logical choice. He is one of the few Democrats known to most New Jersey voters, courtesy of his three election victories and his 18 years in the Senate.

And unlike any other potential candidate, he is a multimillionaire who has indicated he is willing to pay for much of his campaign.

Lautenberg, in fact, introduced candidate self-financing to New Jersey when he spent more than $3 million of his own money in a then-startling $6 million campaign to defeat Millicent Fenwick, one of the most respected congresswomen in the nation.

Ironically, Lautenberg criticized Fenwick, then 72, as too old for the strains of serving in the U.S. Senate. Lautenberg is 78.

The Lautenberg candidacy puts new strains on Torricelli's credibility.

When he quit the Senate race, he said he was doing so because he was unable to campaign on the issues, and his departure was the only chance the Democrats had to retain the New Jersey seat and control of the Senate.

He said he was acting in the best interests of New Jersey and the Democratic Party he has loved all his life.

If he wages a guerrilla war now against the Lautenberg campaign, Torricelli faces the prospects of being openly criticized by fellow Democrats, some of whom would not hesitate to demand that he resign immediately from the U.S. Senate.

Forrester should replay Lautenberg's ads from that campaign.
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 2, 2002 11:58 AM