In New Jersey Senate Race, a Short Primary Campaign Ends With Final Appeals to Voters
Kirsten Luce for The New York Times
Cory A. Booker, in Edison on Sunday. Democratic candidates faced an accelerated primary after the death in June of Senator Frank R. Lautenberg.
By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ
Published: August 12, 2013
The vote will end an accelerated primary season that followed the death in June of longtime Senator Frank R. Lautenberg. The attention has been particularly focused on the crowded Democratic side of the ballot. Four of the state’s best known Democrats joined the race, and the campaign has been sharply contentious at times.
Much of the attention, both positive and negative, has focused on Mayor Cory A. Booker of Newark, who has built a national reputation as a rising star in the party. He has held a strong lead in polls and fund-raising over two longtime congressmen, Representatives Frank Pallone Jr. and Rush D. Holt, as well as the State Assembly speaker, Sheila Y. Oliver, who has not been as big a presence on the campaign trail as the other candidates.
The winner is expected to face Steven M. Lonegan, a former mayor of Bogota, N.J., in a special election in October. Mr. Lonegan, who previously ran for governor, is facing Alieta Eck, a doctor with no experience in politics. However, the winner of the Democratic primary will be heavily favored, largely because Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 700,000 registered voters.
All sides are predicting that voter turnout will be remarkably low on Tuesday, when polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. The campaign itself has been short — just over two months — and it has unfolded in the heart of the summer when many voters have been vacationing. That has introduced a degree of volatility into the race, because only the most engaged voters are expected to show up at the polls.
Mr. Booker has crisscrossed the state aboard a campaign bus over the past few days, presenting himself as a new breed of solution-minded politician at a time when Washington is mired in old political feuds. In a reminder of his national celebrity, he appeared at one event in Newark alongside the actress Eva Longoria.
“It’s time to send a message to Washington that we need change agents,” he said in a packed auditorium at a senior center in Camden. “It’s time to send people to Washington who can carry our message.”
But even as the mayor drew large and enthusiastic crowds, and won the endorsements of major newspapers based in the state, he and his aides found themselves dealing with increasingly sharp attacks from his rivals, some focused on recent revelations about his outside business dealings and others on longstanding charges that his record is insufficiently liberal for Democrats.
During a stop in Iselin, where he attended the India Day Parade over the weekend, Mr. Pallone accused Mr. Booker of spending too much time trying to enrich himself instead of focusing on his job as mayor of one of the poorest cities in the nation.
Mr. Pallone, who is in his 13th term and has long expressed interest in moving to the Senate, contrasted Mr. Booker’s conduct with his own record in Congress, which he said included taking a lead role in helping to pass the health care legislation championed by President Obama.
“When you talk to voters, they want to know who’s going to be like Senator Lautenberg, who’s actually going to work hard and get things done in Congress,” said Mr. Pallone, who has been endorsed by Mr. Lautenberg’s family.
Much of the criticism has focused on Mr. Booker’s income from speaking appearances around the country; payments from his former law firm that persisted even as it did business with agencies, some of whose members are appointed by the mayor; and his stake in an Internet start-up called Waywire.
Mr. Booker’s camp has said there was nothing improper about any of the financial interests, and noted that as mayor he has given much of his income to charity.
Still, the revelations provided new ammunition to his rivals, who have struggled to attract attention in a race that has been dominated by the star power of Mr. Booker. They are counting on their respective political organizations to rally enough voters in their home districts to carry them to victory.
Campaigning in Ewing Township, where he visited a diner, Mr. Holt questioned how Mr. Booker had time to start a business given his obligations as mayor. “Mayor Booker has some explaining to do,” he said, speaking to reporters outside the diner. “What is this about running a company while you’re a full-time mayor?”
And Ms. Oliver, who has scaled back her campaign efforts with her organization low on cash, said she was especially disappointed because the mayor depicted himself as a white knight, coming in to clean out corruption in City Hall.
“I’m disturbed immensely,” she said during an interview in her campaign office on Monday when, unlike the other candidates, she made no public campaign appearances.
No comments:
Post a Comment