Lautenberg wins landslide victory against Forrester

NEW BRUNSWICK — Frank Lautenberg, who replaced Sen. Robert Torricelli after allegations of ethical misconduct forced him to abandon his candidacy, soundly defeated Republican Douglas Forrester yesterday to represent New Jersey in the U.S. Senate.

Lautenberg, who retired in 2000 after three terms in the Senate, had five weeks to refocus the race and convince New Jersey voters that he should return to Washington. His win Tuesday was by the largest margin of victory of any of his campaigns for Senate.

At about 10:30 p.m. in the New Brunswick Hyatt, Lautenberg, 78, joked to a packed ballroom about Forrester's late attempt to make his age an issue.

"I just want to let you in on a secret: it's past my bedtime," Lautenberg laughed. "Let them pull that one again, huh?"

Lautenberg earned 54 percent of the New Jersey electorate to Forrester's 44 percent. Mercer County, where Princeton is located, voted for Lautenberg over Forrester by a 17-percent margin.

Princeton Borough's 1st precinct, which encompasses the majority of University voters, Lautenberg earned 167 votes to Forrester's 55.

Lautenberg, who offered to represent his party the night Torricelli withdrew, said it took only 30 seconds for Gov. Jim McGreevey to coax him to run. "I couldn't wait to go back to the Senate," he said.

Lautenberg maintained that he ran his campaign on the issues: the environment, gun control, a woman's right to choose and the economy.

In television ads and the two debates between the candidates, Lautenberg portrayed Forrester as "out of step" with New Jersey voters.

Leading in most polls going into Election Day, Lautenberg had to defend his record on national security after Forrester prodded him about his vote to oppose the Gulf War in 1991.

But Lautenberg said last night he could create jobs and improve the state economy, "even as we get ready to defend our country and fight terrorism wherever it may be."

In an interview before Lautenberg's victory speech, Gov. Jim McGreevey sounded a unified Democratic Party campaign message.

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"We can stand shoulder to shoulder with the president on national security and the war on terrorism," he said, "and simultaneously recognize the recession."

He said Democrats would focus their efforts in New Jersey on economic justice and domestic policy issues and that those were the issues Torricelli had tried to campaign on before an ethics scandal stemming from his race for the Senate in 1996 forced him to withdraw on Sept. 30. "Democrats responded with a message focused on the economy and frankly that was the right thing to do," McGreevey said. "Particularly now on the cusp of a major recession, we have to focus on job creation and on a woman's right to choose."

Sen. Jon Corzine, who was elected in 2000 to Lautenberg's vacated seat, stood beside Lautenberg during the entire campaign. Corzine has been rumored to be one of the top contenders to chair the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the committee that vaulted Torricelli into the national spotlight in 1998.

Corzine said the two senators would focus on domestic issues.

"We really want to get the economy going so we can create jobs and that is not being done now," he said in an interview.

McGreevey emphatically denied rumors that Lautenberg would not serve out his term.

"Lautenberg will serve all six years," McGreevey said twice while weaving his way through a crowd of reporters early in the evening. Polls showed Lautenberg winning for most of the day, but Forrester did not concede until shortly after 10 p.m.

"We have an unbeatable duo between Corzine and Lautenberg," McGreevey said.

Corzine, Lautenberg and McGreevey, representing the three senior New Jersey Democrats, left the podium with their hands linked and raised in the air in victory.

Moments before, the two senators, who were both businessmen before running for political office, joked like longterm colleagues about who would get who the newspaper each morning. Corzine has only been in politics for only two years compared to Lautenberg's 18.

"We are so lucky to have Jon Corzine as senior senator," Lautenberg laughed.