I really wish Rob Andrews were in better shape against Frank Lautenberg in New Jersey. Things could change, but what I never understand is why the New Jersey Democratic Party consistently winds up with weak candidates for statewide office, despite the solidly Democratic tilt of the state in general. In the past few years alone, we've seen Jon Corzine run for Governor and win in a nail-biter, we've seen Bob Menendez run for the Senate after succeeding Corzine and win in what appeared to be a close race until the last second, and we've seen Frank Lautenberg run a close race after his predecessor got in a bit of trouble. This despite New Jersey having voted solidly Democratic for twenty years on a national level, despite New Jersey having not elected a Republican to the Senate in almost forty years, and despite Democrats controlling the state's congressional delegation, both chambers of the state government, and pretty much everything else.
It just doesn't seem like we should have to run these nail-biters all the time considering the state's lean. Corzine is easily explicable--he's not popular and he just bought his elections. Lautenberg was a last-minute pinch-hitter after his long tenure in Congress. Why on earth Corzine picked Bob Menendez is a mystery to me, and it provides more than just a whiff of corruption. Or maybe that's just the breeze coming off the Jersey turnpike. I don't know. But let's not forget that these actions have consequences: the DSCC had to spend three million dollars to bail Menendez out in 2006--had that money gone to help the Democratic candidates in Arizona and Nevada we might have two more Democratic Senators in office right now. We'll never know.
It is only fair to note that Democratic politics here in California are frequently as irritating. Our state party apparatus seems intent on punishing promising political leaders (like Steve Westly) and elevating mediocre party hacks (er, Cruz Bustamante, Bill Lockyer, Phil "Phil Angelides" Angelides, etc.). I'm almost afraid to see who the party lines up behind for the Governor's race in 2010--about the only promising statewide officeholder is Debra Bowen, the Secretary of State, who has actually done some good work in the field of election reform and seems like a sharp character. No doubt she'll be disqualified early, though, in favor of someone like Loretta Sanchez. Seriously, it's embarrassing. Why do you think that we've only had three Democratic governors since 1939? And one of those was recalled!
