STROM'S REPLACEMENT?:

No debate in topsy-turvy New Jersey Senate race (Reuters, 10/21/02)

Election Day is only two weeks away, but former Sen. Frank Lautenberg says it's too early for him to debate Republican Douglas Forrester in New Jersey's topsy-turvy Senate race.

The 78-year-old Democrat, who retired in 2000 after 18 years in the Senate, returned to politics only three weeks ago, when the state's Supreme Court ruled he could replace scandal-plagued Sen. Robert Torricelli on the November 5 ballot.

"I've been out of circulation for two years," the white-haired grandfather said in an interview after a campaign stop at an Irish pub in this wealthy New York suburb.

"I really think it's important that I touch base with people in the flesh, before they see me on TV in a debate." [...]

Democrats have been selective about Lautenberg's public appearances amid questions over how much energy and stamina the political veteran has.

At a rally at Cryan's bar and restaurant in South Orange, a jovial Lautenberg pumped his fist in the air and beamed a toothy smile at a small cheering crowd. But during his remarks, the Democrat's self-assurance gave way to rambling at times, drawing distracted looks from the audience.

As Finley Peter Dunne's fictional barroom philosopher, Mr. Dooley, once observed: Politics ain't beanbag. Republicans need to drape the good Senator's apparent incompetence around his neck and tighten it like a garotte. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 21, 2002 2:46 PM