Gina,
An interesting op ed piece by Al Hunter in the Wall Street Journal today on Jersey politics. It's more than a little off topic but, after all, we have been discussing such on the thread lately.
POLITICS & PEOPLE
By AL HUNT
The Frustration
Of Being Doug Forrester
online.wsj.com
HAMILTON, NJ. -- A remainderman receives residual assets after all other interests have been exhausted. Doug Forrester is a classic political remainderman.
The 49-year-old Mr. Forrester is the Republican candidate for Senate in New Jersey. In short order, he's gone from obscurity to running ahead of a scandalized incumbent to falling behind a new and better-known opponent. These roller coaster changes share a common element: they had virtually nothing to do with Mr. Forrester.
Last year, top Republicans, including the president implored the popular former GOP Gov. Tom Kean to run against the ethically challenged Democratic Sen. Bob Torricelli. Mr. Kean, happily situated as president of Drew University for 12 years, demurred. The unknown Mr. Forrester, an assistant state treasurer under Gov. Kean 15 years ago, a successful businessman and mayor of the small town of West Windsor, jumped in because "Torricelli was hurting New Jersey."
Ten days ago, Doug Forrester, capitalizing on devastating publicity over Sen. Torricelli's ethical violations, soared ahead. The senator then quit, and Democrats, after a few false starts, tapped the 78-year-old Frank Lautenberg, a retired three-term U.S. senator, for the race.
For Doug Forrester, it means retooling his campaign theme -- the other guy is a crook -- at a cost of close to a million dollars. New Jersey Republicans wasted a precious week with an ill-considered challenge to the legitimacy of the Lautenberg candidacy. And while polls show Mr. Lautenberg with only a narrow lead, most experts say it's uphill for the neophyte GOP candidate. Along with a half dozen others, the outcome here is seen as critical in the tight fight to control the next Senate.
New Jersey is not the stereotype of toxic dumpsites, the Sopranos and endless turnpike exits. It is an upscale, high-tech, suburban state full of highly educated professionals. It also clearly tilts Democratic, voting decisively for Bill Clinton and Al Gore in the last two presidential contests: It has not elected a Republican senator since 1970. Successful Republicans are moderates like Tom Kean and former governor Christie Whitman.
As former Gov. Kean notes in an interview in his Drew University office this week, it is also "a throwback -- the only big state without a TV station. That means old-fashioned things like county organizations and newspapers and personal recognition count."
Thus, not surprisingly, the GOP contender now declares: "I am a Tom Kean Republican," noting it's "no accident" the former governor chairs his campaign. Democrats are determined to paint him well to the right.
He's somewhere in between. Mr. Forrester supports all the Bush tax cuts and advocates new ones, including capital gains tax reduction; suggests he's closer to the more expansive Democratic proposal on prescription drug benefits for seniors; endorses all the Bush defense spending increases, especially missile defense systems; heavily stresses homeland security (more than war in Iraq, which Mr. Kean dismisses as an issue in the New Jersey elections) in a state with many Sept. 11 victims; and at every opportunity claims he can bring home more federal pork to New Jersey, which he charges has been shortchanged. This all should be done, he insists, without touching the Social Security surplus.
The problem, of course, is that Mr. Forrester also is bothered by ballooning budget deficits as far as the eye can see and realizes this doesn't add up: "Something may have to give." Probably not the tax cuts. It is doubtful that the veteran Mr. Lautenberg will allow himself to be outpromised. He wasn't in the Senate for the Bush tax cuts, but in 1993 was one of only six Democrats to vote against the Clinton deficit reduction, including tax hikes on the wealthy, which presaged a booming prosperity.
In an interview in his headquarters here, Mr. Forrester comes across as bright and articulate and associates say he has a quirky sense of humor. In public, however, he often seems stiff. One New Jersey Star Ledger columnist calls him, "Mr. Square."
Mr. Lautenberg retired from the Senate three years ago, telling friends he was sick of fund raising. He has since said it was a huge mistake. When his old archenemy Bob Torricelli quit in disgrace, he jumped at the opportunity to step up. He is a tough, sometimes mean-spirited, candidate who will wage a no-holds-barred campaign. The Lautenberg camp expects to resolve campaign funding issues today and soon will launch a two-pronged ad campaign: one reminding voters of the senator's bread-and-butter record, the other attacking Mr. Forrester on guns (the Republican opposes any new gun laws but also opposes repealing current gun laws), the environment (he once mistakenly said 80% of Superfund goes to lawyers) and Social Security (he opposes privatization but in the primary supported private accounts).
One Lautenberg asset: He doesn't carry the Torch's ethical baggage. "We now can say that our guy not only is on your side," ventures one Democratic strategist, "but he's also honest." Mr. Forrester dismisses these distinctions, railing daily about the "Lautenberg-Torricelli" machine. "I view them as hyphenated," he says.
It won't be an easy sell. The often-confrontational Mr. Lautenberg is unpopular with most New Jersey politicians. And he and Mr. Torricelli have long despised each other. (Ten days ago, after concluding he was going to do the "statesmanlike" thing and drop out, the Torch exploded to one confidant that he wouldn't quit "if that (expletive deleted) Lautenberg takes my place.")
The GOP's best hope may be that the septuagenarian former senator shows his age; Mr. Forrester wants to debate him 21 times, an offer that the Democrat surely can refuse. Tom Kean worries whether his candidate can adequately get across a winning message in the short time left. His best chance: "If Frank Lautenberg looks old or stumbles." |
