[stupac2]

From what I was hearing (almost exclusively from Slate's Dave Weigel) Booker was running and polling well ahead of Lautenberg, mostly because of the latter's advanced age (I remember reading that he only had about a 1/3 chance of even surviving a hypothetical next term based on actuarial data). My guess is that Lautenberg (or more likely, his staffers) read the writing on the wall.

I don't know much about Booker, but having him in the Senate seems a better use of his talents than being Newark mayor, even if he might not be able to do much.

[stupac2]

From what I was hearing (almost exclusively from Slate's Dave Weigel) Booker was running and polling well ahead of Lautenberg, mostly because of the latter's advanced age (I remember reading that he only had about a 1/3 chance of even surviving a hypothetical next term based on actuarial data). My guess is that Lautenberg (or more likely, his staffers) read the writing on the wall.

I don't know much about Booker, but having him in the Senate seems a better use of his talents than being Newark mayor, even if he might not be able to do much.