The Slatest

We Should Know by Christmas Whether We’ll Get a Booker-Christie Showdown

Newark Mayor Cory Booker speaks at this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.

Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images.

As we explained a few weeks ago, Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker appears to have two obvious choices when it comes to his political future: He can challenge New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie next year or wait until 2014 to make a run at the Garden State Senate seat currently held by Frank Lautenberg. Looks like we’ll have an answer to that question in the next two weeks or so.

“I am absolutely considering running for governor as well as giving some other options some consideration,” Booker said during an appearance on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday. “I’m going to be focused on for the next week to 10 days or so and really come up with a decision that answers my basic question is where do I believe—and hopefully later the voters might agree with me—but where do I believe I can make the best difference for the city I love, for the state I love, and the nation that I’ve pledged my life to.”

Political observers in Newark and Washington have long been dreaming of a Booker-Christie matchup next fall. But the prospects of that high-profile battle dimmed at least somewhat thanks to Christie’s astronomically high approval ratings in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. A recent poll of New Jersey Democrats, meanwhile, showed a relatively easy path to the Senate for Booker by way of a primary challenge to Lautenberg, who would be 90 in 2014.