What I Did Yesterday

MENENDEZ EXPECTED TO BEST KEAN IN SENATE RACE

By Candace Taylor, Jennifer Taylor, Magdalene Perez, Lionel Laurent and Melissa Korn



New Jersey—Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez edged past GOP challenger Thomas H. Kean, Jr. to become New Jersey’s first elected Hispanic senator, in a contentious race that may help tip the balance of power for Democrats in Congress.

With 96 percent of the polls reporting, Menendez had garnered 53 percent of the vote, with Kean, a state senator from Union City, drawing 45 percent.

At his victory party at the Hilton Hotel in East Brunswick, Menendez, the son of Cuban immigrants, invoked the American dream. “I believe that democracy is best served when we are lifted up by our hopes,” he said.

Referencing the tide of anti-war sentiment that helped carry him to victory despite questions about his ethics, he said, “we need to change the direction in Washington.”

Gov. Jon Corzine, who handpicked Menendez as his replacement in the Senate after his successful gubernatorial campaign last year, said Menendez had character “to stand up to the president on the war in Iraq.”

An unofficial exit poll taken yesterday of 172 voters from Hudson, Bergen, Essex, Middlesex and Somerset counties found that 29 percent of voters voted for Kean, while 68 percent of the voters chose Menendez.

Disapproval of the Bush administration and the Iraq war swayed many voters’ decisions, polls found, despite Kean’s efforts to paint Menendez as corrupt.







Many New Jersey residents indicated they don’t have much faith in Menendez. He’s “the lesser of two evils,” said Bergen County resident Bob Shine, a 65-year-old teacher who cast his vote for the incumbent at Somerville Elementary School in Ridgewood. “I wanted this to be a vote against George W. Bush and the Iraq problem.”

Bergen county, with roughly 106,000 Democrats, 98,000 Republicans and 297,000 unaffiliated voters, was one of the state’s fiercest battlegrounds during the race and the subject of intense campaigning in the days before the midterm election, as Democrats sought to wrest control of Congress from Republicans.

Democrats are projected to gain the 15 seats needed to take control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 12 years, in addition to capturing a majority of governorships and legislatures.

By press time Tuesday, Democrats had ousted Republican Senators in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Ohio, gaining three of the six seats they need to control the Senate. Democrats also knocked out Republican governors in six states, including Ohio, Massachusetts, Maryland and New York, where Eliot Spitzer was projected to win by a wide margin.

Menendez was regarded as the Senate’s only vulnerable Democrat, since Kean accused him of improperly taking $300,000 in taxpayer money in the form of rent from a federally subsidized non-profit organization in Union City.

Interviews yesterday with voters from four separate districts in Ridgewood found that Menendez appeared to trounce Kean. Of 83 residents, 51 people said they voted for Menendez, 27 said they voted for Kean and 5 voted for independent candidates.

In a barrage of television advertising fueled by a war chest of some $10.8 million, the Menendez camp aimed to frame the race as a referendum on President Bush and the Iraq War. The ads painted Kean, whose father served two terms as Governor, as a supporter of the war and Bush ally. In comparison, Kean raised $7,017,136, according to campaign finance reports.

Menendez voted against the Iraq War in 2002.

“On a national level, many people are questioning decisions President Bush has made, and Republicans in the Senate,” said Ingrid W. Reed, a policy analyst at The Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. “As a Democrat, Menendez has worked to make himself the anti-Bush candidate, and make that the focal issue in this race.”

His tactics proved effective with many New Jersey voters, who have not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972.

“I think a lot of people want to send a message to Bush,” said Basking Ridge resident Ann Cade. Though she’s a Democrat, Cade said she’s open to voting for candidates from both parties. But where the war in Iraq is concerned, “we’re in a mess and there’s no answer as far as Republicans go.”

Menendez and Kean had been neck and neck leading into the election. On Nov. 6, a Quinnipiac University poll reported that Menendez had a 48 to 43 percent lead over Kean, Nine percent of voters were undecided and 8 percent of those who name a candidate said they might change their mind before Election Day.

According to the New Jersey elections division, the state has some 4.8 million registered voters, of which 1.15 million are Democrats, 890,118 are Republicans, and 2.8 million—roughly 55 percent-- are unaffiliated.

Though Kean worked to make ethics a central issue in the campaign, the topic never dominated the campaign, said Gregory Wawro, an associate professor of political science at Columbia University. He said it’s possible the allegations didn’t resonate with voters, or they may be “more concerned with advancing the Democratic party than with debating Menendez’s record.”

Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed information about the Union City non-profit, but Menendez said he did nothing wrong and the lease was approved by House ethics attorneys. The Democrat has not been charged with wrongdoing.

“I don’t think Menendez is the most honest person, but there needs to be a change,” said Richard Stevens, 52, a Democrat who voted at Ridgewood High School Tuesday afternoon.

For some voters, the attacks on Menendez’s character were influential. Marybeth Kakolewski, 54, a school nurse, pointed out that most educators have supported Menendez, who received the support of the American Federation of Teachers and other unions. But Kakolewski voted for Kean because, she said, “he’s a more honest candidate.”

Robert Klugman, 41, a white accountant from Hoboken, said he voted for Kean for similar reasons. “I’m just sick of politicians being dishonest, and Menendez is just more of the same.”

Race may also have been a decisive factor in the campaign, Reed said. New Jersey’s growing population of Hispanic residents may have worked to Menendez’s advantage, she said.

Census data from 2004 indicated that 63.8 percent of New Jersey residents were white, 14.5 percent black, 14.9 percent Hispanic and 7 percent Asian.

“I like Menendez because he’s for the minorities,” said Michael Gammage, 45, an African-American machine operator. After voting at Camden Street School in Newark, Gammage said he was aware of attacks on Menendez’s character, but “there’s just as many crooked Republicans as there are crooked Democrats. I’m going to be fool enough to believe that the good will outweigh the bad.”

Reed added that it’s hard to get accurate poll data on the effect of race on voting, because it’s hard to tell if people are telling the truth in their responses. “Even after the election is over, we may never know what role – if any – race played in how people voted,” Reed said.

Meanwhile, problems with electronic voting machines were reported across the state.

Polling places in Essex, Camden and Salem County encountered mechanical problems, according to Jeff Lamm, a spokesman for the New Jersey State Division of Elections. While the machines were out of commission, he said, voters used emergencies paper ballots. Some, but not all, of the machines were fixed by the end of the day.

All of New Jersey’s 21 counties used electronic voting machines in the state primary, but four, including Essex and Camden, were using them for the first time in a statewide election, Lamm said.

In Hoboken, residents held aloft signs that said “The pride of Hudson County – Bob Menendez.” A white sedan plastered with Menendez posters drove up and down Washington St.

Daniel Hernandez, 28, who is Puerto Rican, said opposing Bush is the most important issue in the race. “Bush is a crook, and a killer, and anybody who’d be in a party with him doesn’t deserve my vote,” he said.

As for allegations about Menendez’s ethical record, “they don’t bother me too much,” Hernandez said. “They’re all crooks. Some are just better at not getting caught.”