It could be an early night on November 6 in the battle for control of the U.S. Senate if Florida governor Rick Scott takes away the Senate seat of political tater tot Democrat incumbent Ben Nelson, even earlier if a political surprise brewing in New Jersey, the possible defeat of the arguably corrupt and tainted Bob Menendez comes to pass as polls are indicating is an increasing possibility:

New Jersey Senate Republican candidate Bob Hugin and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) are in a statistical dead heat, according to a Stockton University poll released on Monday.

The Stockon survey found that Menendez leads against Hugin by two points -- 45 to 43 percent -- only five weeks before the November midterm election. Libertarian candidate Murray Sabrin has three percent support. The poll has a 4.25 percent margin of error, making this is a dead tie between Hugin and Menendez.

Menendez, who was reprimanded by a Senate ethics panel after corruption charges were dismissed following a mistrial, has a net 24 percent unfavorability rating. Hugin, in contrast, has a 13 percent net favorability rating, though 43 percent of New Jerseyans said they were not familiar with him.

Closing that name-recognition gap could be significant and it might be wise for President Trump, as part of his save-the-Senate barnstorming tour, to make a trip to New Jersey if Hugin wishes it.  Menendez has been a harsh critic of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, saying he believes Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation of an assault, although she does not know when it happened, where it happened, who was present, how she got there, etc. Yet previous sexual allegations against Menendez were far more specific, corroborated and, wait for it, credible. Add to that corruption charges and you have a very black pot defaming the kettle.

Breitbart News has documented Sen. Menendez’s legal and ethical problems:

Menendez, along with his friend and political donor, Dr. Salmon Melgen, was indicted on public corruption charges in April 2015 by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Menendez’s first trial ended in a mistrial in November when the jury could not reach a unanimous decision. In January, the DOJ dropped the charges against Menendez.

Dr. Melgen, Menendez’s co-defendant in the public corruption case, was convicted on 67 felony counts of Medicare fraud in April 2017.

Sen. Menendez has attacked Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh despite corroborated evidence from the Department of Justice (DOJ) that suggested he (Menendez) engaged in sexual misconduct…

Mendendez tweeted in September, “Two takeaways from today’s hearings: 1. I am more confident than ever that Brett Kavanaugh is not fit to serve on the Supreme Court. 2. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is not only to be believed, but as my friend @CoryBooker said, she is a hero.”

A hero Bob Menendez is not, and despite the Obama DoJ dropping charges against its Senate ally, what the FBI found is certainly more damning than the unproven charges against Kavanaugh:

The Obama DOJ released a report in 2015, which detailed how they found “corroborating evidence” that Sen. Menendez and Democrat mega-donor Dr. Salomon Melgen had sex with underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.

“Presented with specific, corroborated allegations that defendants Menendez and Melgen had sex with underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, the Government responsibly and dutifully investigated those serious allegations,” the DOJ wrote.

Ironically and interestingly, Sen. Lindsey Graham, who condemned Judge Roy Moore in Alabama over similar decades-old allegations against him and mounted a full-throated epic defense of the witch-hunt against Kavanaugh, was a character witness for Menendez at his trial despite corroborated evidence:

Menendez is on trial for corruption -- the first sitting senator in a decade to be prosecuted on corruption charges. At the heart of the case is whether he accepted money and trips from his close friend, West Palm Beach ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, M.D., in exchange for using his position as a U.S. senator to help Melgen.

The allegations were first published in The Daily Caller, but the Department of Justice, in a court filing, later referred to “corroborating evidence” having been turned up to support the claims of underage prostitutes. The filing alleged that the prostitutes were hired to attend sex parties with Menendez and Melgen at Melgen’s villa, at a luxurious resort in the Dominican Republic called Casa de Campo.

In an email exchange posted on Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a Spanish-speaking female said she’d attended sex parties with Menendez and Melgen in the Dominican Republic and that Menendez “likes the youngest and newest girls.” A whistleblower also came forward to describe the parties.

The alleged penchant of Menendez for underage prostitutes was described by one of the hookers in the Daily Mail and described activities more heinous than cryptic notes in a high-school yearbook:

The alleged prostitute says that she was working with a Dominican escort service called The Doll Palace and that a code word, 'chocolate' was used to summon her and other girls to Melgen's alleged sex parties.

To prove herself she gave detailed descriptions of Melgen's pimp and the houses where she slept with house guests.

The account is the most detailed since allegations emerged in November that Senator Menendez had attended sex parties in the Dominican Republic…

That young prostitute said she had sex with Menendez 'three times at least' in 2009.

'The first one in February, and then in May and June. I recall his visit in June so well because that month was my 17th birthday.'

Menendez is a political tap-dancer who was against the Iran nuclear deal for all the right and obvious reasons until he found himself running in an election year in an arguably purple state where supporting Trump’s pulling out of the Iran deal might be a political liability. Menendez put career first, country second:

The most surprising opponent is New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, who presented the most clear and compelling case against the accord back in 2015 and proposed a viable alternative (in answer to those who claimed no better deal was possible).

But then Menendez, fresh off his corruption trial, is up for re-election. And in deep-blue New Jersey, anything that looks like support for Trump is a political liability.

Too bad. He, Schumer and the rest of the “we’re against it but we’re also for it” crowd should re-read Menendez’s remarks from three years ago. They remain convincing -- and explain why Trump was right to pull the plug on such a bad deal.

Bob Menendez is in deep political trouble, and if Republicans are serious about saving the Senate, they should pay more serious attention to this race. Donald Trump won the presidency because he fought in places the pundits said he could not win, demolishing Hillary’s blue wall in states like Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Here could be a golden opportunity to make New Jersey red again.

Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investor’s Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine, and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications.