RIP, Frank Lautenberg

by Steve

Frank Lautenberg, Rest in Peace. You were a good Democrat and served your country very well, and deserved better than to have Cory Booker start pushing you aside.

We'll now get to see how good a politician Chris Christie is. Of course, he'll pick a GOP replacement for Lautenberg, and no one should expect otherwise. The key will be whether he picks a conservative for self-serving 2016 reasons, or a moderate GOP replacement to mirror his state and preserve the chances of legislative progress this year on issues like immigration reform.

Because if Christie picks a conservative to placate the party's fringe base, and that choice ends up tipping the Senate to the right enough to kill immigration reform or other cross-aisle progress on issues like student loans, or even tax reform, then Christie's star would be tarnished. Picking someone who would simply make Washington more dysfunctional than it already is would hurt Christie, and allow Democrats an issue to hammer him with independents in any 2016 race.