Washington Post's Leibovich Can't Find a Liberal In New Jersey Senate Derby

The Washington Post's political feature writer Mark Leibovich today reports on the jostling to succeed Sen. Jon Corzine in New Jersey, headlined "For Sen. X, D-N.J., the Line Forms to the Left." But the ideological label that might be expected in the text, Democrats on the "left," or "liberals," are never used.

Since Corzine is now Governor-Elect, he can select his successor until next November. (This doesn't always go well: ask Sen. Sheila Frahm or Sen. Bob Krueger). But c'mon, Post people, some of the applicants have liberal voting records, if you check ACUratings.com. Donald Payne has a lifetime ACU rating of 3 percent out of 100, Rush Holt has an 8, Frank Pallone has a 15, Bill Pascrell has an 18. Finally, the two I've seen mentioned in the national press the most, and occasionally tagged as centrists or moderates, are Bob Menendez (11) and Rob Andrews (19). The most amusing part of the article is how Sen. Chuck Schumer (head of the Senate Democrats' campaign committee) interviewed applicants as if he had some role in Corzine's decision. Leibovich notes:

There is a history of animus between Schumer and Corzine, dating to a speech Corzine delivered last year at the Washington Press Club. "Sharing a media market with Chuck Schumer is like sharing a banana with a monkey," Corzine lamented. "Take a little bite out of it and he will throw his own feces at you."

Corzine, who said he meant this facetiously, would later apologize.