Bob Torricelli

Ted Stevens, the beleaguered 85-year-old Republican Senator from Alaska, has been indicted on seven counts of making false statements, according to news reports. A Justice Department press conference is set to begin in a few minutes.

This obviously complicates his re-election bid, which has been on shaky ground since his home was raided by the F.B.I. and the I.R.S. a year ago–part of an ongoing investigation into Stevens' ties to an oil executive who has been implicated in bribing several Alaska politicians. Stevens is facing a challenge from Mark Begich, the former mayor of Anchorage, who has pulled ahead in some recent polls–a rare feat for a Democrat in one of the reddest states in the country.  read more »

Last time we checked in with former New Jersey senator Bob Torricelli he wrote that the Record of Bergen County was a very mean newspaper and he delighted in the recent announcement that the paper was shutting down its Hackensack office.

On July 4, the Record's Alfred Doblin responded. "Being lectured on meanness by the likes of Bob Torricelli is akin to Amy Winehouse leading a rehab retreat for substance abusers," he wrote. Fireworks! 

Mr. Torricelli didn't care much for that. He writes today on PolitickerNJ that the Record's response had all "the sophistication of an adolescent rage." But he proceeded to have a bit of a tantrum himself! Choice nasty bits:

• "The Publisher of the Record, Malcolm Borg, is a convicted drunk driver.  read more »
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Bob Torricelli, the former senator from New Jersey who didn't seek re-election after his first term because, well, we know why!, has an interesting view of the reason The Record of Bergen County is having trouble, and it's not, he thinks, the troubled newspaper industry in general. News that the newspaper recently had to close its Hackensack office seemed to delight him because, as he wrote in his column on PolitickerNJ, "somewhere the Record stopped becoming a mirror of the happy suburban life and it became mean."

He's no media expert--although he may be an expert on the Record after all the ink the newspaper gave him back in 2002--but he gives the newspaper 10 years to live.  read more »