The Christie Appointment: Who Will It Be?

With the unfortunate passing of New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg this morning, likely the last World War 2 veteran to serve in the upper house of Congress, we are about to witness a very interesting drama play out in Trenton, featuring Governor Chris Christie.

Christie, who is racing towards re-election in his own campaign this fall, now holds the power to both give New Jersey its first Republican U.S. Senator in thirty-one years - Nicholas Brady, who only served eight months having being appointed to the position - and to potentially set up said Republican to have a decent chance at retaining the seat next year.

The only question is: who?

Who will Christie appoint to fill the vacancy and likely seek the Republican party's nomination to challenge popular Newark Mayor Corey Booker, who's political stock just grew exponentially?

Well, names have been floating around the headlines this morning, including State Senate Minority leader Thomas Kean Jr. and State Assemblyman John Bramnick, but maybe Christie will decide to take Deval Patrick's lead and just appoint a close political ally to hold the seat while the primaries take him out of the inevitable mudslinging.

I personally favor Mr. Kean, due to his legislative experience and likelihood of giving Booker a run for his money in next year's election, but due to the unfair nature of the universe, I am not Chris Christie, and thus have no deciding voice in this issue, only he does and it should be interesting to see how this all plays out.