REPUBLICANS ATTEMPT TO BLOCK TORRICELLI

REPUBLICANS ATTEMPT TO BLOCK TORRICELLI REPLACEMENT, according to the Washington Post:

Even before Torricelli announced his withdrawal Monday at a news conference in Trenton, N.J., GOP officials said they were ready to go to court to block Democrats from fielding a replacement candidate so close to the election.

“The laws of the state of New Jersey do not contain a ‘we think we’re going to lose so we get to pick someone new’ clause,” taunted Torricelli’s challenger, Doug Forrester.

On a practical level, Democratic party officials have yet to settle on a consensus choice to take Torricelli’s place on the ballot. Even assuming an agreement by Tuesday on Rep. Bob Menendez or another replacement, they will have only five weeks to shed the ill-effects of Torricelli’s ethics woes, introduce their candidate to the voters around the state and rough up Forrester on the issues.

UPDATE: Orrin Judd has more.