New Jersey's Cory Booker Problem
The Newark Mayor's December announcement that he'd "consider" a Senate bid in 2014 — a decision that followed a long, public deliberation played out on Sunday shows and cable news — may have served to raise his national profile. But Democratic insiders complain that it upended the state's political landscape, making Republican Governor Chris Christie, without Booker challenging him, a virtual lock to win re-election, and setting in motion an intra-party war that has the state choosing sides between Booker and the 88-year-old incumbent Senator Frank Lautenberg.
By the morning of Booker's video announcement, the call to supporters was already out and a political action committee was poised to send an e-mail blast to 75,000 potential Booker-for-Senate donors — "Cory Booker is running for Senate,” the email said. The group, PAC Plus, now plans to contact 500,000 supporters over the next month, with a goal of raising $100,000 for Booker by June, director Steve Phillips told BuzzFeed.The Senate run that Booker said he would “explore” — a “possibility,” he called it in his announcement video — was in high-gear from day one.As a N.J. Democratic official put it, “Booker is running — that’s the bottom line.”
“No one in the state ever thought he was running for governor,” said the official. “That was all bullshit. Christie owns him, but he was really being pushed by other power brokers in the state who are much more concerned about the down-ballot effect of what could potentially be a slaughter in 2013.”Already late in the race, only one Democrat — progressive state Senator Barbara Buono — has officially declared herself a contender. Other possible Democratic candidates include Rep. Bill Pascrell, former N.J. governor Dick Codey, and state Senate president Stephen Sweeney, who received a call of encouragement from Booker himself last month.
The party is also faced with the uncomfortable dynamic Booker’s Senate race has created surrounding Sen. Frank Lautenberg, one of the most respected, storied figures in the state’s political history, who also happens to be 88 years old and hell bent on staying in office — or at least retiring on his own terms.Although Lautenberg would be 90 years old in 2014, running a re-election bid for a six-year term, he has not publicly indicated even the impression that he wants to retire.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/new-jerseys-cory-booker-problem
= new reply since forum marked as read
For one thing, Lautenberg already was retired a few years back, out of the senate when due to a scandal of the newer senator, Robert Torticelli, and the fact that Bill Bradley whined, took his ball and left the arena altogether, and with time running short, no suitable candidate was found to replace Tortecelli, they begged Lautenberg to come out of retirement and he did. Nobody had forced Lautenberg to retire.
(for one thing, had he not wanted to retire, he would have kept his seniority in tact, which he lost when retiring and came back as a new senator, instead of now being one of the five most senior).
Boo hoo for the republicans who thought they might have an easy go.
And well, there are always losers in each election, and it seems like whomever wrote this article would have loved Christie to kick Booker's ass.
Seems like Booker, like our great President Obama, gets people riled up for some reason or other.
But why should Booker have wasted a run losing to Christie. Nobody is going to beat Christie after Sandy. It is political suicide to run a race and waste a big name.
Better to keep the seat.
As said, there is NOTHING to indicate Lautenberg would run again, and he has NOT said anything indicating that. In fact, all his annoucements about not talking politics now lead one to definitely believe he would retire in 2014, as he is not fundraising or getting a reelection campaign started.
And why wouldn't someone like Pascrell run for governor instead? Richard Codey was governor for a short time and gave it up in the past, why didn't he run instead of Corzine last time?
That would have made sense.
So again, this article appears to be slanted into an anti-Cory Booker rage rant.
Makes me wonder what ulterior motive or angle the writer has.
Thank God we have great people like President Obama and Mayor Cory Booker and Gov. Deval Patrick and Senator Lautenberg in this nation. People wanting to be in the public sector and not take the money and run in the private sector.
Wish we could find people like both of them to stock each and every mayor, governor, house, senate seat in the nation.
There won't even be a major challenge in the primary, nor should there be.
Great citizens like Cory Booker are the nation (would say the cliche future of the nation, but as they are here and now, they are the nation2013).
Wouldn't mind seeing him or Deval Patrick as Hillary45's VP in 2020 if she should pick, say Joe Biden to create history in 2016 making Joe Biden the longest VP ever (#1 VP of all time), and pick someone in 2020 to have another 8 year continuation of President Obama for 2024 in 2020. We could get the court 9 to 0 by Jan. 2033.
Mayor Booker makes America and all Democrats proud!
Makes me proud that I can finally vote for him being a NJ resident.
New Jersey blue forever!
And he has revitalized Newark and made it into a place that people all over the world now go for entertainment and sports at the Newark Prudential center. Don't think it would have happened without Mayor Booker.Way in the future, they should change the name of the Prudential Center to the Cory Booker Prudential Center.
Wonder how much crap Mayor Booker is going to have to put up with in his career.
Will people be resorting to birther and other lies like they have done to President Obama?
You can count on it. It's too bad America hasn't grown passed all this crap.
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