United Press International: GOP battles Dems on Torricelli ballot

Okay, I'm not an attorney, a Yankee, or a Republican. But it seems to me that the GOP can't campaign on a demand that Torricelli resign and then when he drops out say that he can't be replaced on the ballot. Well, they can, but it's hypocritical.

As for the claim that Jersey deserves a "competitive" race, or doesn't, I don't know if I agree with that, but they certainly deserve a chance to vote for a Senator who could actually win a race against a live body, and there's no way Douglas Forrester could. Saying that Torricelli can't be replaced is tantamount to saying that New Jersey has to be represented by a Senator who fundamentally disagrees with the majority of the state's residents. What the GOP is doing is admitting it can't win in a competitive election and that New Jerseyites don't want to elect a Republican, but they have to anyway because that's the rules. I'm sorry, but that doesn't make any sense to me. Of course, I tend to think that the reality of democracy is more important than its machinery, which probably makes me some kind of Communist.