EXACTLY TWENTY YEARS AGO, Frank Lautenberg first ran for public office. He was a sprightly 58 at the time, a successful businessman who came to the rescue of a Democratic party whose senior senator was embroiled in controversy and forced to step down. Back then, it was Senator Harrison Williams’s implication in the Abscam scandal that left an open seat. Lautenberg spent $5 million of his own money (a considerable amount at the time) to defeat Republican congresswoman Millicent Fenwick, 51 percent to 48 percent.