Forget trying to beat Booker, the NJ GOP should plan for the next gubernatorial election

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U.S. Senator Cory Booker is going to be elected to his own full term next November.

None of the Republicans said to be considering a challenge to Booker can beat him.

It’s not that Booker is invincible, as was widely thought prior to the Special Senate Election last October.  He is beatable.  Steve Lonegan exposed the fallacies of the Booker myth and Patrick Murray documented that Booker’s support is shallow.   Had Washington Republicans not followed Senator Ted Cruz’s lead to shut down the government in October and had State Comptroller Matt Boxer released his audit of Newark’s City Government which exposed millions of wasted taxpayer money and management practices that encourage fraud in September instead of this week, Lonegan might have pulled off the upset that Booker deserved.

There’s nothing wrong with 4 of the 5 Republicans reported to be looking to challenge Booker.  Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, Senator Minority Leader Tom Kean JR, Senator Mike Doherty or Assemblyman Jay Webber would all serve New Jersey well in the U.S. Senate.

That Darryl Isherwood included Assemblyman Chris Brown is his list of 5 Republican of potential candidates to challenge Booker is more of a reflection of Isherwood’s sense of humor than it is of Brown’s viability as a candidate for any office in the future.  After blaming his Assembly running mate John Amodeo’s 39 vote loss on Governor Christie, Brown will be lottery winner lucky if he is even re-nominated for his Assembly seat in 2015.  “What will Brown do after politics?” MMM asked a senior Republican strategist after the gaffe.  “We’ll find out soon,” the strategist said with a laugh.

(Correction:  As a commenter pointed out, Isherwood was referring to a different Assemblyman Chris Brown (the LD 8 Brown) than the one who blamed Christie for his running mate’s loss.  My mistake makes my overall point.  MMM readers are more informed than the average voter.  How many knew there was even one Chris Brown in the Assembly prior to the LD 2 Brown’s gaffe?  There isn’t a member of the legislature with the statewide name ID to compete with Booker~ Art)

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Did Christie Throw The Election to Obama?

As someone who has witnessed the destruction of my hometown and the devastation Sandy wrecked upon the lives of so many people I care about, I really don’t care if the partnership that Governor Chris Christie forged with President Barack Obama contributed to Obama’s reelection.

As I embraced my dear friend while we were standing in the wreckage of what used to be her mother’s home while she was crying, “she’s going to die,” the last thing I cared about was politics.

For over a week I’ve witness my neighbors’ possessions be piled into a garbage transfer station that used to be a parking lot and then be loaded into trailers be be trucked away.  Soon many of those neighbors will be living in trailers in a park while someone else decides when, how and if their homes can be rebuilt.

I won’t complain that I haven’t slept in my own bed and there is no power at my house.  I still have a house.  My friends don’t.  My friend, the mayor, his wife and three young children are sleeping on cots in a gymnasium.

I could care less that Christie wept when Bruce Springsteen called him a friend.  I care even less that Obama facilitated the friendship.

I am comforted that Chris Christie is doing his job and doing it well.  I am comforted that he assembled such a competent team to form his administration three years ago and that they work so well together.

I can’t imagine Jon Corzine, Richard Cody, Jim McGreevey, Christie Whitman, Jim Florio, Tom Kean or Brendan Byrne being as hands on or as competent as Christie has been in this crisis.  I also can’t imagine Cory Booker doing the job that Christie has done or assembling as good a team to do it.

Chris Christie is doing his job and doing it well.  He’s witnessed far more of the devastation to New Jersey than I have. I’m pleased that for the last weeks he hasn’t cared about politics either.

Pundits on both sides of the aisle are saying that if not for Hurricane Sandy, Obama may not have been reelected.  That could be true.  But given Obama’s record, the state of the world and the economy, the election should not have been close heading into the last weekend in October.

Obama said he will be a better president as a result of the campaign. He said he heard those who opposed him and his policies.  I hope that proves to be true.  We’ll know soon enough.

I don’t think Chris Christie will be a better governor because he has Obama’s cell number.  I think it is more likely that Obama will be a better president because he has Chrisite’s number.

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Caption Contest

Monmouth County Democratic Freeholder candidate Bill Shea, former Governor Jim Florio and Red Bank Councilman Michael DuPont:

Write your own caption in the comments, please.

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