Torricelli Is Out

Well, it finally happened. The senior U.S. senator of my state, Democrat Robert Torricelli, realized he was a lying, stealing schmuck and that he couldn't get elected to a second term even if he ran unopposed, and quit the race. His Republican opponent, Douglas Forrester, is now running unopposed, except for third-party candidates (more of which in a minute), and he'd like to keep it that way.

Forrester has the law on his side. New Jersey state law requires that if candidate for statewide office steps down, a replacement candidate can be drafted - but only if the previous candidate quits 51 days before the general election. Torricelli quit two weeks too late. Now Republicans will try to stop the Democrats from offering a replacement. I hope the GOP succeeds.

I'm no Republican, which is obvious from my uncharitable comments about Bush earlier, but I'm sorry - the Democrats had every right to challenge Torricelli in the primary. They knew he was sleazy, yet they renominated him with no opposition. Now they want to put a new candidate in after Torricelli's fall instead of letting his name stay on the ballot. Sorry, that's not how things work out! The New Jersey Democratic party leaders made their bed, so now they have to sleep in it.

Whether the Democrats get to conjure up a replacement Senate candidate or not, I'm seriously thinking of voting for Ted Glick, the Green party candidate. The Greens need more leverage in this country, and they need to be built up into a more powerful force. Even if - okay, when - Glick loses, he can win enough votes to influence what New Jersey's congressional delegation does in Washington, knowing there's a strong leftist party back home!