If Pennacchio wins...
By Wally EdgeIf Joe Pennacchio wins his race for the United States Senate, he would become the first sitting State Senator to go directly to the U.S. Senate since William Smathers ousted Hamilton Kean in 1936. Smathers was elected to the State Senate from Atlantic County in 1935 and went on to unseat the one-term incumbent, whose great-grandson, Thomas Kean, Jr., is now the State Senate Minority Leader.
The last incumbent State Senator to win a statewide U.S. Senate primary was Kean, Jr. in 2006, and before that, William Ely, a Bergen County Democrat who lost an open U.S. Senate race in 1938. The rest, including Alexander Menza (1978), Dick LaRossa (1996), Bill Gormley (2000), Diane Allen and John Matheussen (2002).
Smathers served just one term in the U.S. Senate before losing re-election in 1942. His nephew, George Smathers, served three terms as a Democratic U.S. Senator from Florida.
One more if Pennacchio wins: look for freshman Assemblyman Jay Webber to have an easy time moving up to the State Senate.
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Quote of the Day
"Please. I wouldn't have enough paper. So let’s not even bother writing one. This is now about governing. I won. The one thing I could never understand about people in politics was winners who are sore winners." -- Gov.-elect Christopher Christie, on putting together an enemis list.
“He’s a nice man with good intentions, but in the end he’ll be remembered for timidity. Being a business titan and issuing orders from the corner office is a lot different than having to cajole and persuade people in politics and having the toughness and fortitude to see your vision become reality.”-- Ross K. Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University, on Gov. Jon Corzine.
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