The wild New Jersey Senate race, which I discussed in the May 5th issue, has more or less reached its anticlimax. Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg easily turned back a primary challenge by Congressman Rob Andrews, winning 59 percent to 35 percent. A minor candidate took the remaining 6 percent. Former Congressman Dick Zimmer won the Republican nomination by an underwhelming 46 percent to Joseph Pennacchio’s 40 percent. Ron Paul Republican Murray Sabrin came in third with 14 percent.

Zimmer probably could have been beaten in a two-way race with a more conservative candidate, though unfortunately it looks like there was a much bigger constituency for Pennacchio than Sabrin. Now Zimmer will go on to try to lose by a non-humiliating margin to the prehistoric Lautenberg, though I don’t think the outcome in November is in serious doubt.