Linda Stender

New Jersey may host three of the most competitive House races in the country next year.  read more »

As is its custom, Quinnipiac University released the final poll of the New Jersey campaign season yesterday, pegging Robert Menendez's lead over Tom Kean Jr. at five points, 48 to 43 percent. This corresponds roughly to the findings of perhaps a dozen other recent polls, all of which gave the appointed Democrat leads - as high as ten points.

And so it appears that the New Jersey GOP will extends its losing streak in U.S. Senate races to 11. Which raises the question of what's next for Kean, a 38-year-old political legacy whose charmed ascension in politics now faces an abrupt detour.

The easiest answer is that he'll be back. He's young, after all, possesses a beloved New Jersey surname, and had the misfortune of running in the most toxic year imaginable for a Republican. And, anyway, it's an unofficial Garden State tradition that losing statewide candidates get second chances (Jim McGreevey, Christine Todd Whitman, and Jim Florio are a few members of this club).

But there's a compelling case that campaign '06 will mark Junior's last hurrah. For one thing, this race has confirmed that there are deep and incorrigible flaws in his public style. Kean is exceptionally slow on his feet, and is incapable of convincingly selling the talking points his handlers force-feed him . And he has failed miserably to mask any of these shortcomings with good humor, charm, or even the occasional chortle-worthy quip. As a candidate for office, he is badly miscast. It is hard to imagine that he has enjoyed running for statewide office - why would he go through this again?  read more »