Cory Booker said Thursday he won’t run against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the state’s gubernatorial race next year—choosing to “explore” a run for U.S. Senate instead.
The Democratic mayor of Newark, N.J., announced his decision on Twitter, pointing followers to a YouTube video in which he declared he wanted to serve out his current term at City Hall and “finish” the work he started.
“Let there be no doubt, I will complete my full second term as mayor,” said Booker, a rising star in his party. “As for my political future, I will explore the possibility of running for the United States Senate in 2014.”
Cory Booker has been known to run into burning buildings to save his constituents. But last Thursday, the Newark, N.J., mayor’s biggest challenge was whether or not he could get through a single meeting without taking a nibble of one Christmas cookie.
Booker, 43, and a rising star Democrat, has been living on just $33 of food over the last week as part of an effort to understand the plight of Americans who struggle to live on food stamps. The experiment ends Tuesday.
Booker has said he’s trying to raise public awareness about the struggles of average Americans amid threats of federal funding cuts to food stamp programs around the nation. But the mayor’s very public campaign comes as Booker mulls a challenge to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in next year’s gubernatorial race.
Cory Booker’s week on food stamps: political ambition amid the burned sweet potatoes (via The Ticket)
Meet the softer, gentler side of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Just weeks after New Jersey lawmakers passed a bill that would establish a program offering medical treatment instead of jail time for nonviolent drug offenders, Christie, a possible vice presidential contender, praised the measure during a speech in Washington, D.C.
“If you’re pro-life, as I am, you can’t be pro-life just in the womb. Every life is precious and every one of God’s creatures can be redeemed,” Christie said during a wide-ranging Monday morning address at the Brookings Institution, a public policy research organization. “But they won’t be if we ignore them. … I believe that the results will show, after this is fully implemented, will be startling because people can be treated and miracles happen every day at these facilities. Lives are restored.”
Chris Christie says he may end up as Mitt Romney’s running mate:
Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, has been careful to say that he is not “campaigning” to become Mitt Romney’s running mate, the 2012 vice presidential nominee of the Republican Party. But he’s certainly open to the possibility that he would accept the job.
During a visit Monday to a high school in Plainsboro, N.J., Christie said he could be convinced to join the Republican presidential ticket.
“He might be able to convince me,” Christie said in reference to Romney, according to Matt Katz of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “He’s a convincing guy.”
Chris Christie gives campaign advice to 6th grader:
At a town hall in Union Township, N.J., Martini asked Gov. Chris Christie for some guidance. Christie offered four points of advice:1) Get a group of friends to tell other people they’re supporting you.
2) Ask people for their vote. Don’t tell them to vote for you. “That’s powerful when you do that.”
3) Have colorful posters. If the rules don’t allow that, Christie said, “hang them up until they tell you to take them down.”
4) Don’t make promises you can’t keep. “If you do, they won’t be voting for you in seventh grade.”Aspiring grown-up politicians pay consultants a lot of money for those secrets every election cycle …
