Torricelli, a Bergen County congressman, countered that Zimmer, a congressman from Hunterdon County, was engaging in a campaign of ``character assassination'' because the Republican ``can't talk about his record on Medicare, the environment and crime.''
Declared Torricelli, ``When I hear a candidate engage in personal attacks and distorting one's record, I get a little suspicious.''
If Zimmer were interested in running a legitimate, issue-oriented campaign, Torricelli said, he would have agreed - as Torricelli did - to sign a pledge as requested last week by the Black Ministers of New Jersey to refrain from negative campaigning.
Torricelli withdrew his pledge after Zimmer declined to join him.
While Torricelli accused Zimmer of shortchanging the voters by taking the campaign into the gutter, Zimmer defended his tactics, saying, ``The advertisements running in my name are true . . . and they are relevant to the job of a United State senator.''
Zimmer has accused Torricelli of failing to inform the FBI in 1986 that he had partial supervision over the teenage daughter of a businessman - and Democratic Party fundraiser - who had fled the country after being indicted for bank fraud.
Torricelli said he did not know the businessman had been indicted or how to locate him. He said he helped the girl enroll in a New Jersey high school at the request of her aunt.
Torricelli and Zimmer are vying for the seat being vacated by Democrat Bill Bradley, who decided not to see a fourth term. Bradley's would-be successors are locked in what is widely regarded as one of the nation's most expensive and contentious Senate races.
Aside from the fireworks over the so-called character question, the candidates clashed over a wide range of issues concerning taxes, spending and the role of government.
