Posted 2:02 PM by Robert

Does Torricelli Understand?

Senator Torricelli's re-election race is now deemed a tossup. In the face of that, the Senator is fighting to stop the release of the Senate Ethics Committee file and the final summary report on his case prepared by US Attorney White. He hilariously argues that such a release would be an invasion of his privacy!

What can he be thinking? This is the time of year in which politicians with anything bad in the hopper try themselves to be the ones who release it. That way, it can be old and cold by November.

Nothing could be worse for Senator Torricelli's re-election effort than for the very documents he is struggling to keep secret to be released against his will in late September or October.

And, yet, that is exactly what he is almost guarantying will happen. Lots of people have access to those documents. The Bush Justice Department has access to those documents. Senate Republicans have access to those documents.

With the Senate likely in the balance, and few Democrats willing to defend him, can Senator Torricelli really think his legal maneuvering will keep those documents from being leaked at the worst possible time?