Senator Torricelli’s withdrawal from the Senate race in New Jersey has left New Jersey’s Democratic Party in a lurch. With about a month left in the campaign, they need to field a candidate to take on Doug Forrester, who had been leading Mr. Torricelli by 13 points in the public polls. Mr. Torricelli said he was stepping down to avoid being responsible for losing control of the Senate for his Democratic Party. But finding a new candidate, getting his name out, and taking on an established and leading candidate seems almost impossible at this point. The New Jersey Republican Party has thus far vowed to fight any replacement of Mr. Torricelli on the ballot, and there’s some logic to this position. Changing the rules in the middle of the game is in and of itself antidemocratic. But we’re confident the Republicans would do fine if they were to drop their opposition to the Democrats putting up a new candidate and continued to fight on the issues. There’s no honor in bludgeoning one’s opponent with technicalities. Especially when he’s already down for the count.