Florideja Vu All Over Again?

The Washington Post’s “Talking Points” that appeared online Tuesday afternoon discusses the brief the New Jersey Democrats have filed with the state supreme court.

The brief argues that if

“the 51 day technical requirement” prohibits Democrats from replacing Torricelli on the ballot, it would “deprive [the Democratic party] of the fundamental right of ballot access as contemplated by our election laws and as envisioned by our two party political system, and would further deprive a political party of fielding a candidate at the general election.”

An Associated Press story had more deja vu-ish quotes from the Dems, who argued that the court should “put voters’ rights above filing deadlines and other technical guidelines.” Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said that by objecting to Torricelli’s request, Republicans were “denying the people of New Jersey a choice” in the election.

On the contrary, it would be allowing the Democrats a second choice, since the first one didn’t work out so well for them. The Dems are like a pouting consumer who bought a risky campaign product with a short warranty. The warranty expired, the defective campaign product disintegrated after the warranty expired, and now the disappointed Dems are asking the courts to save them from the consequences of their own mistake by letting them return to the store, long after business hours, and choose a shiny new (or perhaps old and used but still serviceable) campaign product.

Democrats say decades of state court decisions put voters’ rights above filing deadlines and other technical guidelines.

Attorney General David Samson argued in papers filed with the court Tuesday that the justices have the power to relax the deadline to withdraw and allow Democrats to post another candidate. Samson, who was appointed to his job by McGreevey, said election laws have long been interpreted liberally to allow voters every opportunity.

Hmm. Plain text, filing deadlines, etc., in statutes passed by the legislature and signed by the governor are merely “technical guidelines” that courts can revise or disregard at will? We’ve heard this somewhere before. In fact, it’s becoming a theme song of the Dems, a tune they can’t get out of their head.

Say What?