Charges of greed, corruption dominate as US Senate race heads into final days.

Byline: Daniel J. Munoz

The makeup of New Jersey's representation on Capitol Hill and Democrats' chances of gaining seats in Congress are at stake as incumbent Sen. Bob Menendez tries to withstand a challenge from GOP candidate and former Celgene Corp. executive Bob Hugin in a feisty campaign where issues have been overshadowed by harsh personal attacks.By the time Bob Menendez took the mic at the New Jersey Democratic State Committee's annual conference in September, the crowd at Harrah's Atlantic City had largely thinned out. It had been a long day, punctuated by a rousing lunchtime rally led by Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez.

But in the preceding 24 hours, party standard-bearers took to the stage, one-by-one, to go to bat for Menendez, the state's senior senator who has held his seat since 2006.

In normal times, Menendez's re-election would have been a forgone conclusion, especially in a midterm election where many pundits expect a "blue wave" to put the Democrats back in control of the U.S. House of Representatives and perhaps pick up seats in the Senate as well.

But these are not normal times, as Menendez articulated in his speech to the conference.

"We have a president who divides us by who we are, where we came from, what we look like, the color of our skin or who we love," he told the crowd. "We have a president who ultimately would turn back the clock to a time and place that none of us would want to go to."

And this is no normal election. Despite surviving a federal corruption trial over allegations he performed political favors for a key donor and friend in exchange for accepting gifts without disclosing them as required by Senate and federal law the trial ended in a hung jury Menendez continues to be dogged by the scandal.

His opponent, former Celgene Corp. Executive Chair Bob Hugin, has frequently dubbed Menendez "a career, corrupt politician" and pounded him for months over the ethics charges.

The result has been an ever-tightening race that threatens Menendez's hold on his job and any chance the Democrats have to gain seats in the Senate.

Poll after poll have shown Menendez with a single-digit lead over Hugin, oftentimes within the margin of error.

ARutgers Eagletonpoll released Oct. 24 showed Menendez holding a narrow 5-point lead over Hugin, with respondents citing concerns over the incumbent's corruption trial.The poll indicated 51 percent of likely voters favor Menendez, compared to 46 percent for Hugin. Among independents, 50 percent favored Hugin, 43 percent Menendez.

And enthusiasm among voters has been dampened as well, according to the poll. Fifty-eight percent of Hugin voters said they were enthusiastic about their candidate, compared to just 29 percent of Menendez supporters.

What is clear is Menendez's poll numbers have dwindled as the race has gotten nastier.

For example, in mid-October...