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Menendez on the Ropes: Bob Hugin Closing In

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As the countdown for the November midterms elections begins in earnest, it appears that embattled two term New Jersey senator Bob Menendez (D) finds himself fighting for his political life in a super close re-election race, according to a poll referenced in the New York Post.

Currently, Menendez leads Republican challenger Bob Hugin, a pharmaceutical executive by a slim 43-37 percent, according to the Quinnipiac University poll results. Back in March of this year, poll results indicated that Menendez was leading by a respectable 49-32 percent, however poll experts say that an incumbent candidate who can’t reach 50 percent is considered vulnerable.

Sen. Menendez has seen his share of scandal last year in a corruption trial against him. Due to a hung jury, Menendez beat the charges, but clearly voters in the Garden State have not forgotten this tainted episode.

Menendez was accused of accepting lavish gifts from friend and co-defendant Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida opthalmologist, in return for political favors, according to report in the New York Post.

Melgen was charged by federal prosecutors of personally directing $700,000 in corporate contributions to a Democratic super-PAC.  The authorities assert that he then gave instructions to the group to use the contributions to assist in Menendez’s 2012 re-election campaign.

Melgen allegedly wanted Menendez to assist in personally enriching him, as prosecutors claim that Menendez’s job was to use his senatorial influence to persuade the Obama administration to modify the   Medicare-reimbursement policy in a way that would make millions for the doctor, according to the NYP report.

Moreover, federal prosecutors claimed that Menendez was asked to lobby for a port-security deal that involved Melgen and helped the doctor’s foreign girlfriends obtain travel visas to the US, as was reported by the Post.

Menendez’s colleagues on the Senate Ethics Committee issued a conclusion that their colleague from New Jersey had indeed violated federal law, despite the jury’s deadlocked decision. The Ethics Committee censured Menendez through a strongly worded missive that smacked of admonishment for his perceived misdeeds. They also mandated that Menendez make restitution on the value of the gifts her received from Melgen.

For his part, Menendez has consistently declared his innocence of the charges leveled against him.  When polled, New Jersey voters also indicated that they believed that Menendez did play a role in the corruption case.    49% of voters thought he was guilty and 16 % did not. His approval rating was a negative 40-47 percent, according to a NY Post report.

The Post reported that twenty-five percent of voters cited ethics in government as the most important issue in deciding how they will vote for US senator, followed by taxes (21 percent) and health care (19 percent).

Quinnipiac polling analyst Mary Snow told the Post, “As Sen. Robert Menendez sees his once-dominant lead whittled down to single digits, New Jersey voters are sending a clear message. They are troubled by the ethics cloud hanging over him.”

New Jersey has traditionally maintained itself as a “blue state” in US senatorial and presidential races.

The poll was conducted from Aug. 15-20 of 908 New Jersey voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points, according to the Post report.

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