NJ Sen. Lautenberg Denies He Is Retiring

A spokesman has announced that an NBC New York report that New Jersey’s senior senator would retire is not true:

NBC New York, citing sources close to Lautenberg, reported Friday evening that the five-term Democrat had decided to retire rather than run against Newark Mayor Cory Booker in the 2014 Democratic primary. Lautenberg spokesman Caley Gray challenged the report about two hours after it was posted on the television station’s website.

“The news report that claims Senator Lautenberg has decided to retire is simply not true,” Gray said in a statement.

The NBC story said Lautenberg’s office did not comment to the station on the retirement.

Expect a bruising primary fight next year, as there seems to be no love lost between the Lautenberg and Booker camps.

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.