Christie, obviously, is hoping to rack up the kind of lopsided margin that might enhance his stature for a 2016 presidential race. To date, he has skillfully divided New Jersey’s Democratic Party, peeling off critical legislative and electoral support from across the aisle. His main concern when it comes to this November is to avoid saying or doing anything that might give wayward Democrats reason to return to the fold.
This is why those around Christie aren’t pleased with the prospect of a special Senate election on the same day as the gubernatorial election. All of the advantages that Christie enjoys over Buono will not be enjoyed by the Republican candidate in the Senate race – even if that candidate gets a few months of quasi-incumbency through an appointment by Christie. In the best case scenario for Republicans, the Senate race will be close. In the worst case, it’s another double-digit blowout loss – a concern that will be heightened if the Democratic candidate is Cory Booker. Under this scenario, the Democratic candidate for Senate could potentially boost the performance of Buono, making the gubernatorial race closer than it should be. And this is why it won’t be surprising if Christie looks for a way to justify holding a separate special Senate election this year. But this would be tricky. Elections are expensive and Christie would risk being accused of wasting taxpayer money on an effort to make himself look better on Election Day. It will be a lot easier for him to do this if Democrats were to also call for a separate special election …
