Which Tom Kean?

Here's something that should be quite obvious to reporters, but isn't.  Tom Kean Sr is pushing this movie to help his son, Tom Kean Jr, in a Senate campaign in New Jersey.  Fred Snowflack of the Daily Record explains the dynamic.

In off-hand conversations recently with two friends of mine, the U.S. Senate race between incumbent Democrat Robert Menendez and Republican challenger Thomas H. Kean Jr. came up. In wading into discussing the race, one thing immediately became clear. Both my friends thought the Republican candidate was the former governor of New Jersey. That would be Thomas H. Kean Sr.

Not only is Kean Sr. a onetime governor -- he's the former president of Drew University in Madison and the acclaimed chairman of the federal 9/11 Commission that investigated the terrorist attacks. That's a great resume for the U.S. Senate.

The candidate, however, is his son, Kean Jr., a state senator.

Whether some voters will confuse Kean Jr. and Kean Sr. is a topic that was raised just about as soon as "Young Tom" got in the race.

Recent polls show the race a statistical dead heat. That defies conventional wisdom. New Jersey is a solid "blue state." Democratic presidential candidates have won New Jersey four times in a row and Republicans have not won a U.S. Senate race in the state in more than 30 years. Add in President Bush's dismal poll ratings and Menendez should be comfortably ahead.

But that isn't the case.

...

"A lot of them thought that it was the former governor in the race," said Candura, who lives in Mount Olive. "These are not ignorant people. They just didn't take the time to figure out who's running yet."

A poll by the Eagleton Institute of Politics earlier this year gave some credence to that argument. It noted that the race was a virtual dead heat, but also that when voters definitely knew the candidate was Kean Jr., Menendez had a lead of nine percentage points, 42 to 33.

The more Tom Kean Sr's name is out there, the better for Tom Kean Jr.  Of course Tom Kean Sr. didn't expect that someone would call him on his obvious dishonesty.  

Life's beginning to suck a little bit more for the openly unethical.

Tags: new jersey, Tom Kean (all tags)

Comments

3 Comments

Re: Which Tom Kean?

I remember the Bush Mafia doing a similar thing. After 8 years in oblivion, Bushdaddy suddenly reappeared in the late 90's and grabbed headlines by parachuting on his birthday, followed by another the following year.

When Bushboy made his announcement in 1999 to run for president -- and immediately jumped into the lead in polls -- another poll showed that most people who were saying they'd vote for him mistakenly thought he was Bushdaddy -- that cool old guy who jumped out of a plane.

I wonder what stunt they'll pull to rehabilitate the Bush name before Jebthro steps forward to be annointed?

by Sitkah 2006-09-07 04:28PM | 0 recs
Is the Bush name rehabilitable?

Or as Dubya tarnished it for good?

by molly bloom 2006-09-07 04:43PM | 0 recs
Re: Is the Bush name rehabilitable?

Never underestimate the American electorate's overall ability to forget what happened 10 minutes ago.

by Sitkah 2006-09-07 06:28PM | 0 recs

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