Going Jersey On ‘Em

“Pssst. You don’t want this gig. Run for the Senate, and this doesn’t have to get messy.”

One of the most popular parlor games in the state of my birth this year has been the will-he-or-won’t-he surrounding Newark Mayor Cory Booker. A rising Democratic star, Booker has been confronting two different paths to statewide office and it appears he has made his decision, according to the NBC affiliate in New York City.

The charismatic young mayor, credited with turning around an ailing Newark by reducing crime and increasing economic development, prefers his odds as Frank Lautenberg’s Senate replacement instead of taking on incumbent Governor Chris Christie. It’s hard to fault his reading of the tea leaves—Christie’s numbers have surged north since Hurricane Sandy, and Lautenberg will be 90 years old when his current Senate term ends.

Booker put it thusly in an editorial just published in the Newark Star-Ledger:

As I explore a run for the United States Senate, I look forward to consulting with Senator Lautenberg. During my lifetime, he has been one of New Jersey’s most important leaders. It would be a privilege to continue his great legacy of service.

While an encouraging and growing number of women are being elected to the Senate, that body still isn’t exactly a study in racial diversity generally and with regard to African-Americans in particular. The Garden State being represented by a brilliant young black man who has served as one of the nation’s most successful mayors would be fantastic news, indeed.

Here’s Booker as Jon Stewart’s guest on the Daily Show last week.

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