From Steve Gilliard's Election Round-up:

But it is New Jersey which truly interests me.

Why?

Because the dynamics there are unique. Independents play a large role in elections as do taxes. So you can elect a moderate Republican like Tom Kean or Christie Whitman. But in the late 90's the wingnuts rose, the prolife, anti-government folks and thus their nosedive began.

And I have never disliked a candidate as much as I disliked Forrester.

What amazes me is that people like Chris Smith didn't run. Instead, hack Doug Forrester was allowed to run a second doomed race. All he had was money and a bad toupee. His claims had been demolished in the GOP primary and he made a hash of dealing with Democratic corruption. People don't think Corzine is a crook, he ran Goldman Sachs.

Dem corruption in New Jersey is endemic. A smart candidate could have explained how corrupt the Dems are. But Forrester had no clue how to do it. And the worse it got, the worse he got. He attacked a quadriplegic on stem cell research and got his ass handed to him. The Bush commercials didn't help. He looked just like Nixon in them. Tying him to Bush was smart.

Now, I normally have a strong stomach for politics and associated antics.

But the Joanne Corzine ad was disgusting, and that takes a lot in Jersey politics. I couldn't stop thinking about the Corzine kids and what a total fucking bastard Forrester would have to be to do that. Joanne Corzine was acting out of bitterness. It's something she'll come to regret (especially after the state troopers find that cache of drugs in her backyard:)), because she didn't hurt her ex-husband, but her children. Donna Hanover could have fragged Giuliani in a hundred ways, but she didn't want to hurt her kids. Joanne Corzine didn't care about that, but Forrester and his wife should have. There were rumors of him tagging a former staffer.

I think this is what led to his second serious defeat. He not only couldn't make the case, he jumped in the gutter to try.

itty bitty post.

I try to make the font smaller when i quote so that it's easy to distinguish. I don't want to be accused of plagiarism.

some of us have eyes that don't work so good.