He walked out of the Federal courthouse in Newark last year after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on the charges against him, denying a sense of closure and - fairly or not - creating the impression that the Senator escaped punishment on a technicality, that he was not acquitted but set free because government prosecutors failed to prove their case.
MENENDEZ VS HUGIN ON THE ISSUES TRIAL
His making up considerable ground and spending heavily has created some nervousness in the Democratic party, worried that the Senator’s trial on Federal corruption charges and the subsequent harsh judgment of the Senate Ethics Committee on his behavior have had a significant negative impact on voters’ perception of him. Hugin’s television campaign has pulled him to within single digits of Menendez, and he actually enjoys a 10-point led, 46 to 36, as measured by a Stockton Polling Institute survey in the Second Congressional District covering all of Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Salem counties and portions of four others. Given the Whitman/Haytaian experience, it is ironic that Menendez is the subject of a rescue mission by his national party which hadn’t anticipated any need to apply financial or organizational resources to a state in which the party has held both Senate seats for nearly half a century. The Republican challenger, retired biopharmaceutical executive Bob Hugin, needn’t turn to the national party for sustenance he’s already put some $15 million of his own money into the campaign and stands ready to up the ante. Bob Menendez, is weaker than either Bradley or Lautenberg, weighted down by the baggage of his ethical misbehavior. This bit of history is somewhat instructive, given that entering the final month of this years’ Senate contest, the Democratic candidate, Sen. To be sure, Bradley and Lautenberg were strong candidates and may have weathered a last ditch all out assault, but there remains the tantalizing possibility that, but for a decision made in Washington, D, C., the Democrats’ lock on New Jersey’s Senate seats could have been broken. Frank Lautenberg - and there are still some Republicans who haven’t forgiven the Republican National Committee or its fundraising arm for refusing to divert additional resources to the campaigns because they were convinced the GOP cause was lost.Įven though the morning after miraculously provides crystal clear vision, there is a compelling case to be made that a television advertising blitz in the last week or 10 days of the campaigns could have overcome a three-point lead and made the difference for both Whitman and Haytaian. Christie Whitman in 1990 and former Assembly Speaker Chuck Haytaian in 1994.Įach lost by three points - Whitman to Sen. Senate, only two subsequent elections can be defined as competitive that is, in which the margin of victory for the Democratic candidate was under five per cent - against former Gov. In the 46 years since New Jersey voters last sent a Republican to the U.
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