After a disastrous beginning, former Goya Foods executive and businessman Andrew Unanue is considering ending his bid against New Jersey Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg. Multiple Republican sources tell multiple news outlets that Unanue will leave the race, after allegations that he showed up to work intoxicated and that he actually lived across the water in Manhattan.

Should he make his exit official, Unanue would likely set up a "committee on vacancies," given that the filing deadline has passed. That committee could then select a replacement candidate, and former Rep. Dick Zimmer told Gannett he's fielded calls and is ready to step in. The decision to choose Zimmer would have to be made before April 16 in advance of the June 3 primary.

Zimmer, who lost a previous bid for Senate in 1996, serves as a lawyer at the prominent Washington shop Gibson Dunn, though he maintains his residence in Delaware Township, New Jersey. After losing to Democrat Robert Torricelli twelve years ago, Zimmer tried to run for his old House seat, in 2000, losing to incumbent Democrat Rush Holt. At 63 years old, Zimmer told the news service that he looks forward to stacking his record against either incumbent Lautenberg or Rep. Rob Andrews, who is challenging Lautenberg in the primary.

That Zimmer is considering accepting a nomination as a replacement candidate is somewhat ironic. Six years after beating Zimmer, Torricelli stepped down amid serious ethics problems in the middle of an election campaign, to be replaced by Lautenberg. Republicans cried bloody murder, convinced that their candidate would have beaten the badly damaged Torricelli easily.

Now, after a series of failed efforts to recruit a top candidate to take on the 84-year-old Lautenberg, Republicans are pulling the same trick and bringing Zimmer off the bench. He will face State Senator Joe Pennacchio and college professor Murray Sabrin in the primary, both of whom national and state Republicans feel would make subpar candidates.