House, Senate Races Enter Final Day

Buster Soaries arrived at Ground Zero on Sept. 11 and his first task was to secure lights.

New York City emergency personnel were fighting through the pitch black cloud of the World Trade Center site when Soaries, the first representative of New Jersey, was ferried across the Hudson River in a state police boat. Before New Jersey sent over uniformed officers, Soaries was asked to augment the television and motion picture lights set up downtown.

"It was like having a nightmare about a bad movie," he said in an interview last week. "I didn't think about it until I got there, but when I got there my thought was this is the end."

Deforest "Buster" Soaries, the Republican challenger to Democratic incumbent Rush Holt in the 12th Congressional district which includes Princeton, decided then that he would run for office.

"I never wanted to be a politician," Soaries said when he declared his candidacy in late January. "When I saw Ground Zero on Sept. 11, I knew that I would have to summon the courage to help lead the recovery of my state and my nation as successfully as America's original heroes had done."

Former New Jersey Secretary of State under Gov. Christie Whitman, Soaries is also an African-American Baptist minister in a 6,000-person congregation in Somerset.

As one of two major African-American Republican candidates nationwide, Soaries is in an uphill battle to defeat the entrenched Holt in an already Democratic-leaning district made even more so after the redistricting following the 2000 Census. Republican Representative J.C. Watts, R-Okla., who will vacate his seat in January and who is the only black Republican in Congress, endorsed Soaries last month.

Since declaring his candidacy, Soaries has been playing catchup to Holt's fund-raising prowess. Holt has more than a three-to-one advantage, having raised nearly $2 million.

Democrats have used Soaries' testimony on behalf of Clarence Thomas in his Supreme Court nomination hearings to discourage potential voters.

David Rebovich, a political analyst at Rider University, said it even seemed "like the Republicans on the national level gave up on [Soaries].

"I'm a little leery about traditional Republicans coming out for Soaries," he said.

Soaries — who trained at the Princeton Theological Seminary — said he does not expect strong support in the Princeton area, which is a Holt stronghold, but he says his support in Hunterdon and Monmouth counties and in Trenton will carry the election.

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In a race that has not garnered much media attention, though the district has a history of close elections, the candidates have focused on policy issues and have recently honed in on the potential war with Iraq.

In a debate Oct. 29 at the Princeton Men's Jewish Center, Soaries reiterated his strong support for President Bush and the Iraq resolution and called the Middle East the most pressing issue of the campaign.

"I don't want war," Soaries said. "The difference between Iraq and the rest of the world is that Iraq has thumbed its nose at the rest of the world 16 different times. You don't negotiate with terrorists."

Soaries criticized Holt for voting against the Iraq resolution. Holt did not participate in the debate because he was attending the memorial service for Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., who died Oct. 25 in a plane crash.

Soaries has criticized Holt for voting against the Homeland Security Bill and since September has fervently advocated for increased security on New Jersey Transit commuter trains.

"I don't want to wait for a commuter rail or bus to explode. We have to do something," he said. "Convenience is not a constitutional right."

Though international relations has dominated the campaign recently, Soaries and Holt also differ on domestic policy issues such as the economy and abortion.

Soaries has separated himself from Holt on the abortion issue, opposing partial-term abortions in the second and third trimesters. Asked about the University's health plan, which covers the cost of abortions, although none are performed on campus, Soaries said that he always questions institutional authority.

"I'm a clergyman; I think an analogy would be that students trust the University for certain issues just as people trust a clergyman," he said. "I don't think it is appropriate for me to recommend an abortion or not. It is my job to make sure the woman knows her options.

He said he could understand why some pro-life students question why a portion of their health fee supports abortion but said he is more concerned that the University recommends options."

Soaries said he opposes divestment campaigns out of a concern for moral consistency.

"I am very concerned with making sure that we shed as many tears for every [Palestinian] life that is lost as every Israeli life lost," he said. Efforts like Princeton Divestment call for the University to withdraw investments in companies in Israel.

"Divestment speaks to the undermining of the only economy in the Middle East that is stationed for a real democratic state," he said.

Soaries must rally his Republican constituencies to overcome Holt's lead. Mercer County Executive executive Robert Prunetti said Republicans have prepared a "tremendous" get-out-the-vote effort to persuade last-minute voters.