Who would have imagined ? ? ?

No hypocrisy....

I don't defend corruption.

Once the lawyer suits smell taxpayer money ....

In many lawyer families, it's like father, like son (or daughter), generation after generation. The public trough is just too good a feed bag to do anything else.

if, upon stepping down, the governor nominates a replacement.

Democrat to run for the Senate. If Menendez resigns the Democratic governor will appoint another Democrat to hold the seat until a special election .

I have been out of NJ since 2012, but I KNOW that it was almost as hard to get people to vote for Menendez as it was to get them to vote for Corzine's reelection.

It is true that incumbency usually makes a candidate stronger, but I am willing to bet that in 2009, if Corzine had stepped down and someone like Codey, a very popular man who had been an acting governor, NJ would NEVER have had a Governor Christie. Of all the times I phone banked or canvassed, that year was the most disheartening. I admit that I just couldn't be part of that effort after he bought in on a negative campaign - in spite of his own extremely low approval rating. Early on, we were calling just Democrats -- and many simply said that they had given him the benefit of the doubt in earlier elections, but they could not support him. Many volunteered that they wished they could vote for Codey.

Someone who has been in NJ for the last 5 years (unlike me) could better say if Menendez is really in the same situation. Would an ANybody but Menendez candidate be easier to support to keep the state. Even if there has been polling, he likely would win due to name recognition. An interesting series of questions would be to poll Menendez vs specific rivals and then poll them against likely Republicans.

It might be that ONLY Menendez could LOSE the Democrats that seat.

Codey would have beaten Christie. But Corzine spent big money to get dirt on Codey so Codey didn't challenge him in the primary. What Corzine had was never revealed.
Christies got support from Democratic bosses because he had dirt on them that he acquired when he tapped phones as the U.S. Attorney for NJ.