New Jersey will have a new Senator after Wednesday, and it is urgent that Newark Mayor Cory Booker take over the seat of the late Senator Frank Lautenberg.
Booker is seen as a rising national star, who would do a lot of good for the middle class and the poor of his home state, which has not elected a Republican Senator since it gave Senator Clifford Case his last term in office in 1972. Case was an outstanding Republican Senator, a liberal Republican who built up an enviable record in his 24 years of Senate service.
New Jersey is a state which deserves a man of Booker’s caliber, and he is leading in the polls by about 12 percentage points, but the Tea Party is making a vigorous challenge to Booker in the person of Steve Lonegan, a businessman and former Mayor of Bogota, New Jersey.
Lonegan would help Ted Cruz, Rand Paul. Mike Lee, Marco Rubio and other Tea Party types in blocking progress, and refusing any cooperation with other Republicans, increasing the civil war that exists in the GOP. His statements and viewpoints are totally unacceptable for a state in the Northeastern United States, with many residents working in New York City or Philadelphia.
Lonegan is having Sarah Palin, the former Alaska Governor and 2008 Republican Vice Presidential nominee, coming in to campaign for him this weekend, and that is, in itself, enough reason for New Jersey to reject Lonegan, and elect Booker, as a leader who will do a lot of good for New Jersey, and become a figure of national stature, including a possible Democratic Presidential candidacy in the future.