"Anyone got a match?"

[James A. Landau]

I know it will finish dead last, but this is my nomination for Word of the
Year.

Background: my son Joel, a sophomore at Rutgers, last week joined the campus
newspaper, The Daily Targum (despite its name it is published in English).
As most junior person on the staff, he automatically got the
bottom-of-the-totem-pole beat, namely local political scene.  His first
article was on the new chairman of the city Housing Board.

Two working days later Torricelli quits the Senate race and the local
political scene is now the hottest beat on the paper.  Joel has not written
anything all week that has not made page 1.

<begin quote>
Seat in Senate can shift balance
By: Joel Landau

10/02/02
--------------------------

The current power structure of the U.S. Senate is not hard to describe. The
Democrats, with the majority, have 50 seats, while the Republicans occupy 49.
The real challenge is to decipher what the Senate will look like after the
November elections.

That's what Jennifer Duffy, managing editor of "The Cook Political Report,"
attempted to do last Monday night at the Eagleton Institute on Douglas
College. The event, entitled "U.S. Senate Elections: What's Happening
Across," was designed to shed light on the political landscape and senatorial
elections happening all over the country.

<snip>

Duffy's speech, which was mostly concentrated on the national viewpoint of
the senate election, ended up with an interesting twist. New Jersey
senatorial incumbent Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., dropped out of the race only
a half hour before her lecture was scheduled to begin. "Here's the speech —
anyone got a match?" joked Duffy as she began her presentation.
<end quote>
--------------------------
Story Source: The Daily Targum
<end quote>

           -James A. Landau (proud papa)