I am surprised that this hasn't been brought to the fore since Senator Menendez's indictment, but perhaps it is time to consider a replacement for him once he is either convicted, is removed, or resigns. I would lobby that Jon Stewart is an obvious, if non-traditional, choice as a replacement. Although maybe not completely intuitive at first, the following items seem to suggest that he may be receptive to such an idea:
1. He is from New Jersey and obviously loves his home state.
2. He is moving on from The Daily Show and has made clear he is looking for something more fulfilling.
3. His mother was a teacher in NJ and he seems to have a deep respect for public service.
4. From his rally for sanity, to his interview on Crossfire, to his post 9/11 show, he has made clear that he loves this country.
In addition to those internal motivating factors, Jon has universal name recognition, plenty of money, and would motivate a whole generation to his cause.
Granted, he knows how difficult it would be to work towards any of his goals or motives once elected. He also knows how difficult it would be to fight the party machine in NJ against more traditional candidates.
As a final point, Jon Stewart has a much closer relationship to NJ than Al Franken had to Minnesota. Jon has also had an arguably more successful career between TV, movies, authorship, and public awareness. He is also more widely known. Thus, if Al Franken can make it so, there should be great confidence that Jon could make a name for himself in the US Senate.