Does Christie appoint a Republican or Democrat for Senator?

[RogueBeaver]

Primary August 13, general October 16.

[Keystone Phil]

Wow. No appointment.

[RogueBeaver]

There will be an appointment, but he hasn't decided who yet.

[Keystone Phil]

Yeah, I just got that from a friend who is watching. He clarified it during the questions period.

[seanNJ9]

Christie not playing politics. Good for him. I hope he selects someone who doesn't plan to run in the special. I'll be pleased if he selects Gov. Kean.

Anyways. Cory Booker has my vote if he wants it.

[Keystone Phil]

The Special is on a Wednesday. What the hell?

[RogueBeaver]

Will Palone or Holt challenge Booker in the primary?

[seanNJ9]

Will Palone or Holt challenge Booker in the primary?

well know in short order. Primary is in 70 or so days

[Likely Voter]

Christie not playing politics. Good for him. I hope he selects someone who doesn't plan to run in the special. I'll be pleased if he selects Gov. Kean.

Anyways. Cory Booker has my vote if he wants it.

There is a bit of politics here. By choosing to have the special election a few weeks before the general in November (when runs for re-election) Christie ensures that he and Cory Booker wont be running in the same election so he avoids Booker's coat tails conflicting with his coat tails in regards to the state legislature where the GOP is hoping to make big gains.

It would obviously be more cost-efficient to have the special election held the same day as the general election in November. By having it on its own date he is spending state money to keep Booker away from his re-election.

[Bull Moose Base]

Christie not playing politics. Good for him. I hope he selects someone who doesn't plan to run in the special. I'll be pleased if he selects Gov. Kean.

Anyways. Cory Booker has my vote if he wants it.

Of course he's playing politics. Punts in the safest way possible, spends millions of dollars unnecessarily to keep Booker from disrupting his race while claiming he's putting the state above himself.

[DrScholl]

Why waste money holding the special on a separate date? He must have a concern that federal turnout would cause him problems in the gubernatorial.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The Special is on a Wednesday. What the hell?

New jersey law grants the governor wide latitude in setting special election dates.  He also appears to have put the primary on a Monday.

[Keystone Phil]

The Primary is on a Tuesday. I don't get this Special on a Wednesday deal.

[Keystone Phil]

"@GovChristie: I am going to be looking for somebody who will be a great US Senator, someone based on their merits. And you know me, I don't dawdle."

I'm going to say it's Kean, Sr.

[Bull Moose Base]

"@GovChristie: I am going to be looking for somebody who will be a great US Senator, someone based on their merits. And you know me, I don't dawdle."

I'm going to say it's Kean, Sr.

Probably the prohibitive favorite. Safest handling of special election forebodes safest appointment.

[RogueBeaver]

Multiple outlets reporting that Pallone is running.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

A Republican, but a inoffensive one who won't run in the special election.

That would be my guess as well, given his stated emphasis on wanting to let the people and not party insiders decide who the party nominees for the special will be.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I think he's looking toward 2016, so it'll be a Republican.  Hopefully it doesn't jeopardize his reelection, because I don't see him doing well in 2016.

[Nichlemn]

An October election is pretty stupid. I understand his implicit rationale, but it's clearly a waste of taxpayer's dollars for partisan gain.

[cinyc]

An October election is pretty stupid. I understand his implicit rationale, but it's clearly a waste of taxpayer's dollars for partisan gain.

I think one problem was that if the election were held on general election day as a default under the statute, there would be no primary, since New Jersey's general election primaries are being held today.  In his remarks today, Christie was adamant about party leaders not selecting the candidates.

[Nichlemn]

An October election is pretty stupid. I understand his implicit rationale, but it's clearly a waste of taxpayer's dollars for partisan gain.

I think one problem was that if the election were held on general election day as a default under the statute, there would be no primary, since New Jersey's general election primaries are being held today.  In his remarks today, Christie was adamant about party leaders not selecting the candidates.

Isn't this resolved by allowing a special election's primaries to be held later?

[Likely Voter]

I have to say that I lost a lot of respect for Christie with this move. He was elected on the promise to cut waste and costs. He even signed a law to save money by consolidating elections (as pointed out by the Weekly Standard of all people).

But he decides to blow $24M of NJ taxpayer dollars to hold a special election 3 weeks before the NJ general just to keep Corey Booker voters away from the general where he is his party can  take over the legislature (and of course he wants to make sure his reelection goes easy). That's pretty craven and the kind of partisan hackary that I thought he was above.

[cinyc]

An October election is pretty stupid. I understand his implicit rationale, but it's clearly a waste of taxpayer's dollars for partisan gain.

I think one problem was that if the election were held on general election day as a default under the statute, there would be no primary, since New Jersey's general election primaries are being held today.  In his remarks today, Christie was adamant about party leaders not selecting the candidates.

Isn't this resolved by allowing a special election's primaries to be held later?

That depends on whether the law allows the governor to call for a special election primary only or could have called for a "special election" on the general election day to get around the fact that the general election primaries have already been held.  The law is far from clear on either.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Why waste money holding the special on a separate date?

A look at the timeline will answer that question for you.

in a couple days: Christie appoints some totally unobjectionable, boring old dude
2013 aug 13: Christie runs for and wins the Republican nomination for Senate
2013 oct 16: he wins the general election as well (because it's Chris Christie in NJ)
2013 oct 16+x: Christie resigns as governor to be inaugurated NJ's newest Senator
2013 nov 05: Christie wins the gubernatorial election (because it's Chris Christie in NJ)
2013 nov 05+y: Christie resigns from the Senate to be re-inaugurated governor
2013 nov 05+y+z: now that he doesn't have to worry about re-election, Christie appoints a hard-right nutjob to the Senate
2016: Christie easily wins the Republican nomination, and thus the presidency

[Rocky Rockefeller]

Why waste money holding the special on a separate date?

A look at the timeline will answer that question for you.

in a couple days: Christie appoints some totally unobjectionable, boring old dude
2013 aug 13: Christie runs for and wins the Republican nomination for Senate
2013 oct 16: he wins the general election as well (because it's Chris Christie in NJ)
2013 oct 16+x: Christie resigns as governor to be inaugurated NJ's newest Senator
2013 nov 05: Christie wins the gubernatorial election (because it's Chris Christie in NJ)
2013 nov 05+y: Christie resigns from the Senate to be re-inaugurated governor
2013 nov 05+y+z: now that he doesn't have to worry about re-election, Christie appoints a hard-right nutjob to the Senate
2016: Christie easily wins the Republican nomination, and thus the presidency

That's some scenario.