nytimes.com
Forrester Predicts He Will Beat 'Machine'
By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
OONTON, N.J., Nov. 3 — Although Senator Robert G. Torricelli ended his bid for re-election in late September, his name remained a rallying cry for Douglas R. Forrester, the Republican nominee for United States Senate, as the campaign entered its final two days.
Mr. Forrester spent the first nine months of the race focusing on Mr. Torricelli's ethical problems and introducing himself as "the guy who's running against Bob Torricelli." Today, with a new round of polls showing him trailing Frank R. Lautenberg, the former senator who replaced Mr. Torricelli as the Democratic nominee, Mr. Forrester tried to fire up a group of supporters by predicting that he would prevail in Tuesday's election because voters realize that Mr. Torricelli and Mr. Lautenberg have similar voting records and political beliefs.
Speaking to about 150 people at an Elks lodge in this predominantly Republican Morris County community, Mr. Forrester said he had been forced to run two campaigns against what he called the "Torricelli-Lautenberg Machine." The first centered on Mr. Torricelli's conduct, the second on Mr. Lautenberg's record when he served as a senator from 1983 until 2001.
"This is my second statewide campaign," Mr. Forrester said during a news conference after his address. "I won the first statewide campaign. Bob Torricelli dropped out of the race. So this is my second campaign, and I'm going to win this one, too." |
