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Republican Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday set an October special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat made vacant by Democrat Frank Lautenberg's death, giving voters the quickest possible say on who will represent them in Washington but preserving Christie as the top attraction on November's ballot.

Christie's primary day announcement means there will be statewide elections three weeks apart, a rare occurrence that Democrats immediately criticized as wasteful and designed to help the governor's political position by preventing the possibility he would be on the ballot with a well-known Democrat, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who's expected to pursue the Senate seat. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130604/us-christie-s-choice
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Republicans are fuming over New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's decision to hold an early special election to fill the seat of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg, with several Washington-based operatives suggesting he's putting his own interests ahead of the GOP's. The decision to hold a separate special election in October 2013—just two weeks before his own election—would give any interested Republican candidates little time to announce, organize a campaign, and raise the necessary money to take on a top-tier Democrat, likely Newark Mayor Cory Booker. http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/republicans-fuming-over-chris-
christie-s-senate-decision-20130604

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Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey on Tuesday excoriated New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) decision to hold a special election to fill the seat vacated by the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), accusing him of "debilitating stupidity" in not appointing a Republican outright.

"This is what rankles conservatives," Armey told CNN's Jake Tapper. "Now, I put it down as debilitating stupidity, the first rule of politics is don't lose the friends you already have for the friends you're never going to get. And if he thinks the Democrats are going to love him for being the guy who plays fair rather than takes the political opportunity he's crazy.

Christie said in a press conference on Tuesday that he wanted to do the “right thing” and let the people of the Garden State pick their own representative in the Senate. Christie will, however, likely appoint a Republican in the interim until the special election takes place in October.

"We must allow our citizens to have their say over who will represent them in the Senate for the majority of the next year-and-a-half," he said. "People of New Jersey deserve to have that voice.” http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/dick-armey-christie-driven
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