Sen. Frank Launtenberg (D-NJ) has died and we will surely miss him. There was a lot to admire. He was the last active Senator to have served in the Second World War, a self made man who became a titan of his industry but remembered his working class roots and fought for working families everyday in the Senate. One of the earlier and most consistent advocates for gun control, even as late as this year during a health scare he was pushing for the strongest bill he could. Also a great public health advocate. There would still be smoking on airplanes, in public places, and tobacco ads on TV if it weren’t for Sen. Launtenberg. No national drinking age, no national drunk driving standard, and no ban on domestic violence abusers having firearms. Who knows how many lives just those three pieces of legislation have saved but it’s surely in the tens of thousands.
A workhorse and not a showboat, also a loyal Democrat who took one for the team in 2002 and left a comfortable retirement to keep that seat in Democratic hands in a difficult year. He was rarely on the Sunday shows or talked about in the media, but like Sen. Inouye, another WWII Vet, he quietly made a huge difference in the lives of millions of people. Not too many left like that.
NJ is a state where the Governor gets to pick a replacement. I wonder if Gov. Christie (R-NJ) will give his comedy partner and bipartisan buddy Cory “STOP attacking private equity!” Booker (D?-NJ) the nod and give the 2014 frontrunner, who couldn’t even wait for Launtenberg to announce he wasn’t running to jump in, a head start on seniority, or if he will put a seat warmer instead.
worked for Lautenberg in the 90s and had good memories. I’m sorry to hear this news.
One issue: the appointee only holds the seat until this November. The special election must be held at the “next general election,” which is Nov. 5, 2013.
Christie is in a tough spot. If he picks a Republican, he pisses off a lot of people. If he picks a Democrat, any Democrat at all, he has to be DOA for 2016 in a GOP this extreme. His best move probably would be to name someone like Tom Kean or Christie Whitman with an assurance that person won’t run in the special.
No enthusiasm for Booker at all. A decent part of my family lives in NJ and I’m not sure they would even vote for Booker. He represents too much of what’s wrong with the Democratic Party today.
Tom Kean, Sr. is a bit of an elder statesmen now. I doubt he or Whitman would want to give up their lucrative private sector jobs for such a brief appointment though. Chris Dagget might be a good choice, unlikely to run again and a down the middle independent centrist in the Angus King mode, might be a troublemaker though. Sweeney might make sense, it removes a rival and he is a Democrat, but might be too much inside ball. My gut tells me with his popularity he can get away with appointing a no name Republican, and that might revive some of his tea party popularity. We will see.
I’d hold my nose for Cory just because he is a vote for Reid, but you are correct that he is the wrong kind of Democrat. I always liked Bill Bradley and feel he retired too early, but he was never too popular in NJ.
I lived in NJ during high school, my dad is still there (though starting to consider retiring back here). We met Bradley in 1990 during his beach walk (he used to walk the whole Jersey Shore each Labor Day weekend). He was in a tight race against Christie Whitman that year.
My dad told him to count on his support, even though he used to play for the Knicks. He was puzzled until he saw three kids decked out in Red Sox hats. He said the Knicks won a tough conference finals against the Celtics in ’73 but the Celtics paid them back in ’74. “Yeah,” said my dad, “but the Celtics were the better team all year in both seasons.”
I looked it up and Dad was right. The Celtics finished 11 games up on the Knicks in 72-73. One of the guys with Bradley said we stole a title in ’76 since the Suns (whom we beat in the finals) knocked off Golden State, who looked like sure champions. My dad said we woulda beat Golden State too. So there.
A propos of nothing except sports, what a Game 7 with the Blackhawks and Detroit! People would have erupted if Detroit had won in OT after that late goal was disallowed. Crazy part is that the Detroit D – who should have been back protecting his net – initiated the sequence.
We were listening on the car radio on the way back from her folks when my fiancée screamed a couple epithets and nearly tailgated the car in front of us. When I move back to Boston she will fit in around here just fine.
I’m hoping Bruins-Hawks with a Bruins win of course, but we will see if the Pens get any tougher.
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I get the sense that like Deval Patrick, Christie very much enjoys being Governor and will stick with his own re-election plans.
Christie is up for re-election this year and way ahead in the polling. He’d upset some people just by the fact of appointing himself, and he’d upset his own party in NJ by taking away their obvious candidate for governor. Going to DC gets him embroiled in all the DC stuff (national issues, etc.) and he’d have to keep a national GOP base happy while facing re-election to the Senate before 2016. He can only get himself in trouble.
Why not? We know Chris is a spurned fanboy, Springsteen would get a kick out of it and probably get some material for the next album. What’s not to like?
He was born on the U.S.A after all