Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) has died, his office said this morning.
Lautenberg, who was 89, had been ailing lately and was not going to seek reelection in 2014. He was the last World War II veteran serving in the Senate.
The cause was complications from viral pneumonia. He died just after 4:00 am this morning at a hospital in New York City.
Lautenberg was a liberal and a reliable vote for President Obama. But his death means that, at least until a special election later this year, the seat will likely be filled by a Republican, since GOP Gov. Chris Christie gets to make an appointment.
It’s not clear, though, that an appointment by Christie will make the Senate a much redder place. Christie is up for reelection this year and presumably doesn’t want to anger the New Jersey Democratic voters he’ll need.
Being NJ born & bred I say let the politics begin…
BTW, this is why we need TERM LIMITS in the House & Senate.
Agree! McCain comes to mind immediately!
McCain is the poster child for term limits.
not to me.
R.I.P Sen. Lautenberg with condolences to your family.
Cory Booker was running for his seat in the special election ? I believe the Dems talked him out of challenging Christie for gov ? Oh, this is going to be interesting…….
Yes, they did. Obama promised Booker the Senate seat if he didn’t challenge Christie for the governorship. It would be very amusing if Christie pushes things along a bit and appoints Booker now.
That would be a lovely “thank you” gift to Booker and the Dems. GOP heads will explode !
remember when Lautenberg didn’t run in 2000, but then his replacement Torecelli was caught doing some, *ahem* unethical things. It was very close to the election and Lautenberg should not have been able to get his name on the ballot.
However, politics being politics, Lautenberg was and he was elected easily by the no-information voters of NJ.
Unfortunately, not all of us in NJ are no-information voters. I just wish there were more of us. I was livid when that judge allowed his name to be put on the ballot. It was all to be “fair”, can’t have only a Republican on the ballot, can we?
Condolences to the family.
Christie is so full of himself lately that he will do whatever suits his personal agenda and call it good for NJ.
RIP, Senator Lautenberg.
I wonder if this was the real reason for Obama’s trip to the Jersey Shore last week. If Chrissie appoints anyone but an “R”, he might as well follow in Charlie Christ’s footsteps.
Condolences to the family. Being the fair-minded person Christie is, he’ll appoint another Democrat to take Lautenberg’s place. No doubt Preezy Revenge has already told his new best buddy who that person will be.
Rumors have it Bruce Springsteen. Wouldn’t that be something!?
Sadly, it wouldn’t surprise me. Christie is a progressive populist so that selection would fit right in with the bread and circuses crowd.
Agreed–that’s why BHO was really there in NJ last week–not to check up on the Sandy recovery but to arm twist Christie (although, don’t think it took much arm twisting–Gov. Christie has been a disappointment).
I think Christie should appoint a black democrat who will vote no on the Senate amnesty bill.
“Lautenberg was a liberal and a reliable vote for President Obama”
Given Mr Christie’s ProBama behavior both during and after the Presidential campaign, i’d say we can safely repurpose that statement to;
“Christie is a liberal RINO and a reliable vote for President Obama”
No help here. Sorry…
RIP Senator Lautenberg. We would not have agreed in life, but none of this matters after the grave. May you have found peace in the Lord before your passing. Condolences to his friends and family, they will need our prayers…