NO STICKY WICKETS HERE:

India-baiter Torricelli quits pivotal Senate race (CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA, OCTOBER 01, 2002, Times of India)

In a US Senate race that is considered pivotal for American politics and is also of great interest to India and the Indian-American community, sitting New Jersey Senator Robert Torricelli on Monday dropped out of a re-election bid after opinion polls indicated he would lose.

[T]he New Jersey race holds great interest for India and Indian-Americans for several reasons, not the least because the state has a large South Asian population.

Many prominent members of the Indian community were lately in a bind because although they are traditionally Democrat-inclined, Torricelli had shown scant regard for their sensitivities.

The combative and often abrasive Senator is said to have rubbed the community--and the Indian governmen--the wrong way by espousing Pakistani and Khalistani causes and raising human rights issues at their behest. "It's not that we had a problem with the issues he raised, but he was so obviously partisan and just fronted for their causes," a community activist who worked with him previously said.

One New Jersey Indian-American Democrat said Torricelli became blatantly partisan after Pakistanis began raising money for him. "

First Cynthia McKinney; now the Torch; the Indians are two for two this innings. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 1, 2002 11:22 PM