New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is being criticized from all sides for deciding to hold a special election to replace Senator Frank Lautenberg, who died on Monday at the age of 89, three weeks before a general election in which the governor is running for reelection.

He could have just appointed someone to serve out the rest of Lautenberg’s term, but it could be damaging for Christie to be tied to the voting record of the GOP’s senate minority. Not to mention New Jersey hasn’t elected a Republican senator since 1972. Christie also has by now a good track-record of putting New Jersey voters before the national GOP, which for most people is a good thing.

The August primary virtually ensures that Newark Mayor Cory Booker will get the Democratic nomination. Activists on both sides who benefit from drawn-out primaries, were quite upset: American Bridge characterized the decision as opportunistic while Dick Armey deemed it evidence of “debilitating stupidity.”

The Star-Ledger blasted the “self-serving stunt” in an editorial published last night:

There is no legitimate reason to hold two separate elections, and the reason he’s doing it is purely self-serving. He calculates that more Democratic voters will show up and cast ballots against him if a popular Democratic candidate like Newark Mayor Cory Booker is on the ballot as well. Given the big lead the governor has already, the greed here is striking: He apparently wants to run up his margin of victory as a credential for his 2016 presidential campaign.

Democratic former governor James Florio praised Christie’s decision, though says he would have waited until the November general election to avoid the extra cost, which is what virtually everyone from New Jersey Democrats to Drudge to Washington Republicans have said. David Freddoso helpfully points out that by New Jersey law he wasn’t allowed to wait that long:

… provided he made the proclamation of Lautenberg’s vacancy today, the latest he could have legally set the election was at the end of October. Christie made a point of mentioning that the primary is 70 days from today, and the general election is 64 days after that — the earliest possible date. Now, I can’t find anything in the statute that says Christie could not have waited a few weeks before issuing a proclamation — theoretically, this might have let him set the election for November 5. But this might also carry some legal implication I don’t know about, and it could have also complicated the appointment of a new senator.

In any case, as many others have pointed out, there are also obvious political benefits for Christie to split the baby by holding the election this year, but not on the same date as his own re-election. Republicans are highly unlikely to defeat Cory Booker in the Senate race, whether or not Christie is on the ballot. That’s just the reality. So politically speaking, the question is when you want to give Democrats a real reason come running down from the hills to vote? Certainly not on November 5, 2013.

So, he left the decision to voters, but followed the letter of the law so as not to give down-ticket Democrats a boost from Cory Booker in November. What’s not to like?

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