The Democratic Party lost no time tossing Torricelli to the sharks when he looked like he would lose. Yet it was only a few days ago that he was their best guy.

Only last week Majority Leader Tom Daschle stumped for his man at a campaign rally in Trenton, telling voters that, "You can't possibly appreciate the job Torricelli does." He was joined by fellow New Jersey Senator Jon Corzine, who declared, without noticeable irony, that he had "never been prouder to be on a dais as I have this afternoon with the leadership you've got in the state of New Jersey."



Those encomiums came when Mr. Torricelli was still tied or ahead of his GOP challenger, businessman and political rookie Douglas Forrester. But an Eagleton poll this weekend showed a 13-point gap, and that was before the media had digested the just-released prosecutorial findings of the probe into Mr. Torricelli.



So now the Democrats are wiping Torricelli off their shoes. So, all those nice things they said were lies? And if not, why don't they stick with their candidate?