New Jersey Senator Has Cancer

Don Surber reviews the story to date:

My heart goes out to Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg, 86, and his family as he battles “treatable cancer in the stomach,” as NJ.com put it.

NJ.com quickly added: “The Democrat still plans to finish out his current term – his fifth in the Senate – and seek re-election in 2014.”

Let’s see, this went from a fall, to bleeding ulcers, to cancer in the stomach within 5 days.

It sounds Politburo-ish to me.

I don’t like be played, and I don’t even live in New Jersey. Could we get some honest reports from these senatorial spokesmen — or why bother having them?

Do you remember how Lautenberg got into the Senate? He was first elected to the Senate in 1982 and chose to retire in 2000. But duty and New Jersey Democrats, aided by Democrat Supreme Court Justices, called once again, as described in this Wikipedia entry:

A little over a year after he left office, Lautenberg was called upon again to run for the Senate again. This time, however, it was to replace incumbent Senator Bob Torricelli, who had won nomination for a second term in the June primary elections but was facing federal corruption charges and an uphill climb for reelection against Republican nominee Doug Forrester. The selection of Lautenberg came with some irony, as there had been notoriously bad blood between Lautenberg and Torricelli when the two had served together in the Senate.^[4] It was rumored that Lautenberg was not the first choice of the Democratic Party to run, but their first choice of Bill Bradley (who had served in this particular seat until 1996, when he decided to retire) was rejected.

Almost immediately, the New Jersey Republican Party challenged the replacing of Torricelli with Lautenberg, citing that the timing was too close to the election and, per New Jersey law, the change could not be allowed. The ballot name change was unanimously upheld by the New Jersey Supreme Court,^[5] who cited that the law did not provide for a situation like Torricelli's and said that leaving Torricelli on the ballot would be an unfair advantage for Forrester, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case. Lautenberg easily defeated Forrester in the general election, 54% to 44%, and took office for his fourth term in January 2003.

Although we are assured by his doctors that his cancer is completely treatable - and for his sake I hope it is - his age and condition would certainly make it unlikely that he'll finish out his term, let alone run for another one. I'm sure Democrats are praying more fervently than ever to the gods of their choice for his quick recovery. After the beating they took in the New Jersey governor's race last year I doubt they want to risk an election to replace Lautenberg in this year's political environment.