WISPS ESCAPING THE SMOKE FILLED ROOM:

The 2 days that shook New Jersey and national politics (JEFF WHELAN AND JOSH MARGOLIN , October 06, 2002, Newark Star-Ledger)

Norcross, the Camden County political boss, proposed a dark horse candidate: Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Roberts, also of Camden and Norcross' business partner.

Corzine scoffed at the idea, according to sources present, saying it would be an impossible sell in Washington. Norcross persisted, enlisting Lynch in his cause.

Others thought it was an uninspired choice. "That's what happens when you get a bunch of political hacks in a room. You get the lowest common denominator," said one participant. [...]

Norcross was making calls to the party's top money men, including labor leaders, selling his man. McGreevey was also on the phone, strongly indicating Roberts was the choice.

Daschle aides, however, notified McGreevey's advisers that if Roberts emerged as their pick, national Democrats would yank their campaign funding.

The McGreevey men sent back a message that they were committed to Roberts.

Shocked, national party leaders mounted an anti-Roberts offensive. "Anybody who could pick up a phone got a call," said one high-level Democratic operative in Washington.

Roberts, the dark horse, was scratched.

Machinations like this, and the article reveals many, make this quote quite laughable:

"The decision [by Torricelli] to withdraw was not a decision the Democratic Party made. It was not a decision of any voter of this state made other than Senator Torricelli himself," said Angelo Genova, a lawyer for the Democratic State Committee.

and put paid to the notion that this is an exercise in democracy. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 6, 2002 12:49 PM