Bob Torricelli

Coming late to the U.S. Senate race, political veteran Dick Zimmer formally kicked off his candidacy at the state house today.

"Welcome to day six of the Zimmer for Congress campaign," he said.  

The announcement came on the tail of a stinging loss for Zimmer in his native Hunterdon County. Local Republicans there held a re-do vote last night to consider switching the party’s preference from rival Joe Pennacchio – who they had awarded the county line to in February – to Zimmer.

If Dick Zimmer had won his race for U.S. Senate in 1996 – our premise is purely hypothetical because he did not – who would be running this year? 

The first question is this: would Zimmer have won re-election in 2002?  Rob Andrews, Bob Menendez and Frank Pallone would have probably declined to challenge him – it’s fair to assume that if they were unwilling to give up their safe House seats to run against Doug Forrester, they would have been less likely to risk a race against an incumbent in post 9/11 New Jersey, when George W. Bush was actually off-the-charts popular in New Jersey.  

Here is one scenario how this might have played out:

Who would Bob Torricelli vote for in November 2008: Frank Lautenberg or Dick Zimmer?

If the reports are accurate – frankly, there has been so much confusion over the last six weeks that it’s hard to believe any of this – Republicans may have found a credible U.S. Senate candidate in Dick Zimmer. 

The rules that govern the Democratic Party's Presidential Delegate selection process are the result of thirty years of conflict. National conventions have been divided and reform commissions have fought into many long nights. There's really only one major reform in recent decades that represented a consensus: everybody recognized the need for the Super Delegates.

When it comes to covering a political sex scandal, it’s important to have someone from New Jersey on your team. Maybe that’s why The New York Times brought in New Jersey reporter David Chen as part of the team that began working the Eliot Spitzer prostitution story since yesterday afternoon. And Steve Kornacki, who covered the withdrawal of U.S. Sen. Bob Torricelli in 2002 and the resignation of Gov. James E. McGreevey in 2004, is the point man for the New York Observer's coverage of the Spitzer scandal.

PolitickerNJ.com, since February 1, 2000

When PoliticsNJ.com began a journey into the world of New Jersey politics on February 1, 2000, we all lived in a different universe. Christie Whitman was midway through her second term as Governor, Republicans controlled both houses of the Legislature, 76-year-old Frank Lautenberg was retiring from the United States Senate, and some mega millionaire Wall Street guy no one ever heard of was running for his seat.

These eight years have been epic times in New Jersey politics: Jon Corzine spent $75 million to win a Senate seat; for twelve days in the summer of 2000, Bob Torricelli was an announced gubernatorial candidate; Whitman resigned as Governor to join the Bush cabinet and was replaced by Donald DiFrancesco, who dropped his own bid for Governor just four months later amidst allegations of ethical violations; Democrats outmaneuvered the GOP on legislative redistricting; Bret Schundler beat Bob Franks in the '01 gubernatorial primary; the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 changed the world; James E. McGreevey was elected Governor; Democrats captured control of the State Assembly - and an election night coup installed Albio Sires, not Joe Doria, as Speaker - and the Senate was tied at 20-20, leaving both parties with shared power of the upper house.

Some New Jersey Democrats are facing the February 5th Presidential Primary with consternation. With three credible and capable candidates it appears to be a difficult choice. It’s actually quite simple.