The bad news for Democrats keeps getting worse with every day. Looks like New Jersey’s Menendez may have to withdraw over (gasp!) corruption accusations:

“A powerful clue that U.S. Senator Robert Menendez might ultimately be forced to withdraw from his bid for a full term in New Jersey emerged last Friday, when he addressed the question head-on just hours after the world learned that he is the subject of a federal criminal investigation.

“The answer is no,” he said.

That may sound a touch familiar to New Jerseyans. It was, after all, around this time four Septembers ago that Senator Robert Torricelli’s re-election campaign—besieged by similar speculation—spent a weekend attaching a simple, defiant message to Torricelli lawn signs around the state: “Nobody fights harder.”

Of course that’s when the Dems brough in a dead guy, Frank Lautenberg, and it gave them help and hope. But if Menendez drops out that option isn’t available.

“Now, Mr. Menendez‚Äôs options are limited‚Äîand all bad. He began by attacking the prosecutor as overly partisan‚Äîa weak response given the dozens of corrupt Republicans who have been brought down by Christopher Christie, the U.S. Attorney leading the Menendez inquiry.

And his ongoing efforts to change the subject to national politics—as Mr. Torricelli sought to do in ’02—can now be trumped by Mr. Kean, who can lift a page from Mr. Forrester. “My name,” he can tell the masses, “is Tom Kean, and I’m running against a man who is the subject of a federal criminal investigation.”

If Mr. Menendez tanks in the coming weeks, it really will feel like 2002 all over again for national Democrats, who need a gain of six seats to win back the Senate‚Äîa feat that would be impossible with a loss in blue-state New Jersey.”

With Ed Lamont fading into obscurity in Conn, and Chaffee’s win in RI last night, it’s looking like 2002 all over again, and who would have thunk it. After all, this was supposed to be easy for Dems, RIGHT?