NYT: Rivals in New Jersey Senate Race Mute Party Affiliations

[DeepModem Mom]

Rivals in New Jersey Senate Race Mute Party Affiliations
By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
Published: September 12, 2006

TRENTON, Sept. 11 — As they run against each other, the candidates in New Jersey’s race for a United States Senate seat have also been running away from divisive and dubious members of their own political parties — and their own political pasts.

United States Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat appointed to the seat last year during his seventh term in the House of Representatives, spent much of the summer trying to dissociate himself from the dodgy reputation of the Hudson County political machine that he came from and now controls....

***

In a series of newspaper interviews, (Thomas H. Kean Jr., the Republican candidate) has increasingly drawn distinctions between himself and President Bush on nearly every major issue except his tax cuts: blasting the administration’s environmental policy, deficit spending, resistance to stem-cell research, response to Hurricane Katrina and handling of the Iraq war.

While it is not unusual for a Senate candidate to separate himself from a president whose popularity is flagging, Mr. Kean’s criticisms stand out by virtue of their breadth and blistering tone. Especially since Mr. Bush’s wife, father and vice president have all made fund-raising appearances in the state for the campaign....

***

In New Jersey, independent voters outnumber both Republicans and Democrats, giving candidates in the general elections an incentive to mute their party affiliation....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/12/nyregion/12jersey.html

[Eric J in MN]

1. To support Democrat Bob Menendez

go here:
http://www.menendez2006.com/home/