Kean's loss blamed on funding, anti-GOP wave

BRIDGEWATER, Nov. 7 — With the nation awash in blue, Tom Kean, Jr. was not alone among Republicans making concession speeches last night. Nevertheless, he raised a stiff challenge against incumbent Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, bringing in 45 percent of the vote in the traditionally liberal Garden State.

"I would like to thank everyone who worked so hard for this campaign," Kean told supporters gathered at the campaign's headquarters. "What they were able to achieve without sleep or without resources was amazing."

Though the campaign featured numerous negative advertisements from both sides, Kean congratulated his opponent on running "a spirited race," adding, "I join all of New Jersey in wishing him well."

Kean thanked his family and campaign staff and volunteers for their commitment. Two campaign staff members said prior to the speech that they had spent the morning placing fliers on cars in a train station parking lot and reached a total of 5,000 windshields by the end of the morning. (Related: Read our election blog.)

"In any other year, he would have won," said Tom Kean, Sr. '57, the candidate's father and former New Jersey governor. When asked what advice he had for his son, he said, "Don't run in a year like this."

In his concession speech, Kean told supporters that he would run again. "I'm not going away," he said, a phrase that was greeted immediately by a resounding cheer.

"Candidates for town council went down because of their party; it's a bad climate for Republicans this year," Tom Kean, Sr. said. "This sort of thing happens every 15 years or so."

"Tom could not have run a better campaign," New Jersey Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson said, adding, "He's only 38 years old and has a lifetime of service ahead of him."

Wilson echoed Kean, Sr.'s comments, explaining that the Kean campaign lost because of a national anti-Republican surge and a massive disadvantage in funding.

"You have to play the hand you're dealt, and in this case, we were dealt 10 cards and the other guys had 17," Wilson said, referring to Menendez's larger campaign coffers.

Wilson and Kean, Sr. both defended the campaign's tactics of attacking Menendez's ethics.

"The campaign tried to make this a contest between the candidates, and the greatest contrast between the two was on character," Wilson said.

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Kean made significant efforts to distance himself from the Bush administration, breaking ranks with his party and calling for the resignations of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld '54 and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).

"Individually, I've always tried to reach across the partisan aisle," Kean, Jr. told The Daily Princetonian last month. Kean called for Rumsfeld's resignation because he saw him as "having an inability to change with the times" despite "horrendous mistakes" in conducting the war in Iraq.

After polls closed at 8 p.m., campaign workers mingled with family and friends in a convention room at the Marriott Hotel, eagerly awaiting results from New Jersey and pressing each other and the assembled media for the latest news.

Kean campaign members wore yellow badges with the words "War Room" emblazoned on them. Kean himself remained in the "War Room" elsewhere in the hotel, in direct contact with staff at the ballot-counting locations to hear up-to-the-minute results. When he entered the main convention room, he was met with applause and a large cheer. After his concession speech, though, the crowd soon began to disperse.

Had he won, Kean would have been one of the youngest members of the Senate. He had created MySpace and Facebook pages so that younger voters could "better understand the campaign and begin their voting career."

Kean's youth means that this race is by no means his last, Wilson said. He cited a run in 2008 for New Jersey's other Senate seat, currently held by Democrat Frank Lautenberg, or another run at Menendez's seat in 2012 as possible future prospects for Kean.

"Tom did a great job," said the elder Kean, adding, "When you look at the tide going against them, no decision they could have made would have made a difference."

Kean, Jr. explained that he looks forward to future campaigns, concluding his speech by saying, "This battle to maintain ethical standards, keep America safe and lower taxes will continue."