Rewriting Political Rules
Steve Adubato, Ph.D.

The conventional wisdom in politics is that you can't beat someone with no one. I'm not so sure that is true anymore. The current US Senate race between Bob Torricelli and his Republican challenger Doug Forrester appears to be rewriting the rules of political campaigns. Forrester, a not especially imaginative or dynamic campaigner (whom many voters still do not know), is running slightly ahead of Senator Torricelli in numerous public opinion polls.

Torricelli is committed to spending millions of dollars to blast Forrester as a far-right, out of touch Republican who is against a woman's right to choose and who looking to invest retirees' social security funds in the roller coaster stock market. He also blasts Forrester as being soft on gun control and implies that he is in with the NRA. In a "normal" election, those charges would be devastating in a moderate state like New Jersey that likes its Republicans to be in the Tom Kean / Christie Whitman mode, but this is not a "normal" election.

Apparently, a significant number of voters are seriously considering voting for Forrester, whether they know him, like him or like his politics. A significant number of voters are saying to hell with the issues and the fact that Forrester comes across as anything but a regular New Jersey guy who the average citizen can relate to. In a normal political year, running a television ad crowing about being a former Eagle Scout who married his high school sweetheart would make Doug Forrester look just a bit goofy, not to mention corny. But this is not a normal election year. We can thank Bob Torricelli for that.

Look, I would love to write about something else on the political scene. Some other race. Some other issue. But Bob Torricelli is the only issue when it comes to politics in the state of New Jersey and he only has himself to blame. It was Torricelli who, on April 18 of last year, pounded on a podium at a press conference saying, "I have never, ever done anything, at any time, to betray the trust of the people of New Jersey. Never!" Torricelli's confidence that day seemed reassuring to those Democrats and some others who wanted to believe him. Me included. There he was, the old Bob Torricelli, a fighter who was not going to take any crap in this campaign, who asserted that the charges that he took gifts from his old friend David Chang were absolute nonsense. Of course we know that wasn't true, that he did in fact take gifts, and that he was, "seriously admonished" by the Senate Ethics Committee.

As a result, Torricelli had to apologize for, as he said, not understanding the rules of the Senate when it comes to gifts. Okay, so then Torricelli says we need to move on in the campaign to talk about issues that matter to people. To some extent I agree with him. I think Doug Forrester is wrong on a lot of issues and he clearly hasn't thought out anything other than how to make Bob Torricelli the Sadaam Hussein of New Jersey politics. Sorry, I'm not impressed, Doug. But maybe that's all it takes. However, like I said, Bob Torricelli only has himself to blame.

Well, once again this past week, he continued to fight the courts in an effort to stop a confidential memo detailing David Chang's accusations against him from being made public. Several media organizations are trying to have the document released. But Torricelli says it is his legal right to have the document remain private for a specific 45-day period set out in the rules. Torricelli is fighting it through the courts and through his lawyers, but this election has nothing to do with courts, lawyers or legalities. It has to do with public perception and the feeling of many, including lots of Torricelli supporters and sympathizers, that he is just downright unethical and dishonest, not to mention, disingenuous.

Bob Torricelli is the only issue in this campaign. The only chance he had of not making that happen was to personally and aggressively fight for the release of all documents connected to his case, which was ultimately dropped by the Feds. He chose not to do that, which was his right…legally. Yes, he would have taken a brutal hit if he did it. It would have been terribly embarrassing. Many of the charges by David Chang would sound a lot worse than what the Senate Ethics Committee found. But that was Torricelli's only shot. Disclose all, apologize profusely, and throw yourself on the mercy of the voters. But Bob Torricelli is a stubborn man and is convinced that wasn't the way to go. I don't know, maybe he is right. I could be wrong, but "The Torch" may be just a few weeks away from rewriting all the rules of politics if he gets beat by an unknown, unappealing nobody named Doug Forrester. We'll see.