Posted on 06/04/2013 2:38:18 PM PDT by nickcarraway
By scheduling New Jersey’s special U.S. Senate election for October 16, Chris Christie has avoided appearing on the same ballot as Cory Booker in November. But he’s also made it more possible that Booker won’t appear on the October ballot.
Booker, the Newark mayor and media darling, still has to be considered the odds-on favorite to take over Frank Lautenberg’s seat. But Christie’s decision to fill that seat with a special election this year, rather than waiting until 2014, makes it all but certain that Booker will face at least one challenger in the Democratic primary on August 13.
The opponent Booker really doesn’t want to face is Frank Pallone. For years, Pallone, a New Jersey congressman, has tiptoed up to the line of running for statewide office, only to get cold feet at the last minute because he didn’t want to risk losing his congressional seat. It was assumed he’d pull the same stunt with the 2014 Senate race. But now the calculation has changed. Pallone can run in the August primary without risking anything. Sources are now saying that’s exactly what he’ll do.
On paper, the quick primary should favor Booker, who has high name recognition and the ability to raise lots of money. But don’t count out Pallone. Not only does he have more than $3 million in campaign cash on hand. He’s also spent years memorizing the operating guide to the New Jersey Democratic Party’s machinery that Booker has never bothered to study. Christie’s announcement today means that Booker is going to have to take a crash course.
Christie is going to be 52 on election day in 2014. He has no substantial wealth, nor steady stream of income. He has one heck of a legal CV, and political connections across party and ideological camps. And maybe 15 to 20 years to work his arse off and cash in, still has to pay for kids’ Uni and get himself set up as a partner in a law firm.
Take a look at NY Gov. Pataki’s career trajectory since he left office, that is a good guideline for Christie’s career strategy going forward from 2017.
Keep in mind that the chances of some type of mass immigration amnesty between now and 2016 and 2020 might make Christie a viable candidate...
I forgot about that.
Yes, I voted for them!
A deal must have been made with Obama during one of their hugs.
“And I don’t think he’s as much of a machine guy as his black predecessors as mayor in Newark. Remember too he’d be running for Senate, not president, in an off-year election.”
Booker would win any general election in a landslide, but he could lose a low turnout primary because you are right, Booker is a reformer and not a machine guy. In fact, for a black democrat, he is almost a right wing uncle Tom.
IF you read his Wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Booker
He is portrayed nearly as the second coming, and frankly, he does sound like one of the few democrats we could live with.
FWIW, Rush Limbaugh today hinted that Christie might be interested in running for president in 2016 as a DEMOCRAT!
Based on what? I don’t think he wants to. I don’t think the Democrats would allow it. And I think Christie knows that. In a state race, maybe he could run as a Democrat, but there is no way he would beat out long time Dems in a presidential primary.
I heard that too, But he put it as “I wouldn’t be surprised if...”, and not as any information that he was given.
His being pro-life would deny him any major Dem nomination. Even if he turned pro-abort, it wouldn’t matter, since his past would be used against him on that high holy Democrat sacrament of infanticide.
He’s going to run, as a RINO for the Republican nomination. He may not be a conservative but he is no where near liberal enough to be nominated as a democrat for anything in NJ or nationwide. Frankly the whole notion is ludicrous.
As to this election date? Seems fine to me. Having it so soon before the November election sounds like a recipe for lower turnout (in both elections) which in NJ is good for us.
Thanks justiceseeker93.
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