Passing the Buck

Doug Forrester, the Republican candidate for New Jersey governor, wants to pin the blame for his loss on President Bush.

Nice try.

The fact of the matter is that Doug Forrester matched his previously failed bid for the Senate position that was formerly held by Democrat Bob Toricelli and equalled the 2004 Presidential election results that saw John Kerry beat George Bush in New Jersey by roughly the same margin. That's right.

The facts and the election results from previous races shows just what happened. The state has voted Democratic in national elections and for the Senate by the same margin in each of the last three major campaigns (starting with the 2002 Senate race, 2004 Presidential election, and the 2005 Governor's race).

Forrester was a flawed candidate, though I still think he was less flawed than Jon Corzine. It remains to be seen just how good Corzine will be for New Jersey, which faces a budget crunch, widespread corruption, and a transportation trust fund that is on the verge of being tapped out.

Enlighten NJ has more political analysis (which came out before the Times article and Forrester's interview.