Booker, Lonegan Win NJ Special US Senate Primaries
Source: AP
A rising star in the Democratic Party and a Republican former mayor won their parties' primaries on Tuesday to set up a campaign of political and stylistic contrasts as they seek to fill the final 15 months of the term of the late U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker defeated three experienced politicians — U.S. Reps. Rush Holt and Frank Pallone, who had the support of Lautenberg's family, and state Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver — in a Democratic primary that may have been more competitive had the field been less crowded. The race was a major draw for them partly because of New Jersey's history of electing only Democrats to the Senate over the past 40 years.
In the Republican primary, former Bogota mayor Steve Lonegan won handily over Franklin Township physician Alieta Eck, who had never run for office before, even though she received support of some tea party organizations.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/nj-choosing-candidates-lautenbergs-seat-19943436
Cory Booker sweeps N.J. Senate primary
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/08/13/cory-booker-sweeps-n-j-senate-primary/
Cory Booker is one step closer to the Senate, cruising to the Democratic nomination in a low-turnout special primary election on Tuesday.
The Newark mayor rolled to an expected easy win over his three other competitors in the contest to succeed the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg. With just seven percent of results in, the Associated Press called the race for Booker who was leading with 57% of the vote. Rep. Frank Pallone was second with 25% followed by Rep. Rush Holt at 14% and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver with only 5%.
http://atr.rollcall.com/cory-booker-wins-senate-special-election-primary-njsen/
Newark Mayor Cory Booker won the Democratic primary Tuesday and is now favored to win the New Jersey Senate special election in October.
(snip)
Beyond his financial advantage and personal popularity, Booker is a heavy favorite thanks to the state’s strong Democratic lean in federal elections. President Barack Obama won the state with 58 percent in 2012, and no Republican has been elected to the Senate from New Jersey in four decades.
The race is rated Safe Democratic by Rothenberg Political Report/Roll Call.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Do you think Republicans crossed over to vote for Booker as the candidate " they" wanted to run against? I don't live in New Jersey ....only asking since the other Democratic candidates had more experience. 
Well, that sounds familiar. I voted against him, I chose Holt.
I don't give a darn. Careful who you call dumb, buddy. I'm not the one who thought that Obama was a liberal. The joke is on the Left.
The Left spent the last how many years trashing Bill, trashing Hillary and voting for Obama because he was supposed to be far more liberal than the Clintons. Now they are bellyaching because he turned out to be the centrist some of us realized from the very beginning that he was.
As for 2016, I have no clue whether Hillary will run or not, but it's downright annoying that the same people who were all in for Obama in 2008 find that she's too much of a centrist for their delicate sensibilities to allow them to vote for her, some say even in the GE. To them I say, get over it. If half of the party had to suck it in and vote for Obama because the alternative was far worse, then they can suck it in too if Hillary is the nominee (which at this point is way too early to tell). What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
I'm glad it was straight dems who made the choice. 
