Politics

Cory Booker Is Already at War Over That Senate Seat He Wants So Badly

The Newark mayor came under heavy, anonymous fire just hours after he filed paperwork to run in 2014 for New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg's seat — a seat he publicly committed to taking... even though Lautenberg hasn't given it up yet.

By J.K. Trotter
Saved Stories
This article is from the archive of our partner .

Newark mayor Cory Booker came under heavy, anonymous fire just hours after he filed paperwork to run in 2014 for New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg's seat — a seat he publicly committed to taking... even though Lautenberg hasn't given it up yet. Politico's Maggie Haberman talked to a Lautenberg aide who made clear that the Democratic Senator — or at least his staff — will not go down without a fight: "It's shameful that [Booker] avoided challenging a Republican just so that he can take on a long-serving, loyal Democrat," the unnamed aide said. Then came the real whopper on Booker: "This guy is self-absorbed and disrespectful."

Impolitic, sure, but not exactly surprising: yesterday's Farleigh Dickinson poll indicates that, among New Jersey voters, Booker leads Lautenberg 42% to 20% for the latter's Senate seat. And, earlier this week, Booker indicated on CNN's Starting Point that his and Lautenberg's staff don't get along very well:

"We've reached out to him a number of times," said Booker, whose second term as mayor ends in 2014. "In fact, I had a plane trip going down to meet with him, but unfortunately with a lot of the challenges going down in Washington, he had to cancel the meeting."

How is Booker responding on Twitter, where he often responds to criticism? Either he's a master of subliminal tweeting (submliminal retweeting?) or he's chosen to ignore the angry Lautenberg aide:

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.