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I have posted it before, but here is my brief as a Dem. If Torch resigns by next Monday, there must be a special election to coincide with the general election for his replacement to serve the balance of his term until next January. Lautenberg will be on the ballot for that of course. Thus there will be two elections at once. One for the balance of the term, and one for the next term. Since all the ballots will have to be reprinted anyway, and since Lautenberg's name will appear in one election, is this not a special circumstance dictating that his name be on the ballot in the other?

You are on the NJSC, and are fair minded. How do you rule?

By the way, if you think the Dems haven't thought about this line of argument, then you must think they are as stupid as plywood. They don't get their advice from brain dead talking heads on the tube. They get their advice from lawyers from Harvard law school that charge $400 an hour in D.C. And I am just a beat up old provincial lawyer in the boonies and I thought of it rather quickly.

I have posted it before, but here is my brief as a Dem. If Torch resigns by next Monday, there must be a special election to coincide with the general election for his replacement to serve the balance of his term until next January.

Respectfully, a special election is not feasable as it takes months to coordinate everything from primaries to determining ballots to sending absentee ballots ... by the time a special election were held, it would be April if you started today.

Lautenberg will be on the ballot for that of course. Thus there will be two elections at once. One for the balance of the term, and one for the next term.

Respectfully, even if this were possible, there is no foundation in the law for this. The appropriate remedy would by for the NJ governor to appoint a senator to replace the Torch if the Torch resigned -- and I doubt that will happen.

Since all the ballots will have to be reprinted anyway, and since Lautenberg's name will appear in one election, is this not a special circumstance dictating that his name be on the ballot in the other?

If you reprint the ballots, you'll have to send the ballots out soon enough for all the absentee voters to receive and respond to them. Unlikely in the time frame left.

You are on the NJSC, and are fair minded. How do you rule?

I'd rule to follow the law, rather than make up new law to favor a particular political party whose problems are their own making. Had the Dems ouswted Torricelli when this garbage first came out, rather than give him a slap on the wrist for committing multiple felonies, then this whole problem would never have arisen.

By the way, if you think the Dems haven't thought about this line of argument, then you must think they are as stupid as plywood.

I don't think the Dems in congress are stupid at all. I think that they are scumbags.

They don't get their advice from brain dead talking heads on the tube.

No, they get it from "meathead" Rob Reiner and Barbra Streisand.

They get their advice from lawyers from Harvard law school that charge $400 an hour in D.C. And I am just a beat up old provincial lawyer in the boonies and I thought of it rather quickly.

I'm only a $300/hr lawyer from D.C., and I thought up just as many defenses in both law and equity rather quickly.

I appreciate the prompt reply. Has there ever been a special election held for Senator? Even if it was coincident with the general election?

I've gotta go to bed. My eyes are tired, and they need rest for the many threads tomorrow will bring. I'll look for all the answers tomorrow.

If Torch resigns by next Monday..."

But didn't he state that he intended to serve out his term? He'll have to call another press conference and shed more tears for the party's sake. Are you sure he's up to that? Are you up to watching it?

But then maybe it will work out that way. Fine. Two has-beens joined at the hip. If you add flat beer to snot you pretty much have this situation: neither does much to improve the other. It should be fun to watch as the public slowly figures this out.

Here's my take: the Dems apply for their "remedy" to the supreme court, and get it. Then the Pubs appeal and win with SCOTUS. This becomes the rallying cry for the Dems, who, using Nattering Public Radio as their loudspeaker, decry this assault freedom and charge that the Republicans are conspiring to load the courts with Taliban-style theocrats. This is what gets the Democrats to get their voters to the poles.

Thus the Dems' strategy: sacrifice New Jersey to motivate voters elsewhere.

I don't think that argument works. I don't think there's any need for a special election for the few months remaining of Torch's term.