Booker vs. Christie: Battle of the Disaster-Relief Kings

There has long been a sense that Cory Booker, Democratic Mayor of Newark and generally awesome dude, would be the best candidate to challenge Republican Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie. Among Booker's many awesome traits is the way he basically seems to turn into a superhero whenever there's a storm in town. He'll go around rescuing people from burning buildings or shoveling people's sidewalks after a snowstorm or, most recently, inviting people who had lost power as a result of Hurricane Sandy over to his house, which still had power.

Of course, another politician who has performed brilliantly during this storm has been Chris Christie, who has among other things very enjoyably spurned Mitt Romney's efforts to come into New Jersey for some nice disaster-porn photo-ops while fulsomely praising the incumbent, um, Democratic President. So if we do get Christie vs. Booker in 2013, it'll be one disaster-relieving candidate against another.

Now, I have to admit that Christie appears to have done a good job with this storm, and deserves credit for that. In fact I think there's a substantial amount of evidence that, unlike many of his fellow Republicans, he actually is interested in governing, not just in ruling. The fact remains, however, that he has some really awful ideas about how to govern. In fact, though it's not exactly on-topic for a 2013 gubernatorial re-election campaign, it'd be nice if someone would ask him whether he agrees with Romney about cutting FEMA or devolving it to the states. He certainly loves him some budget-cutting in general.

So, as someone devoted to the cause of a Christie defeat in 2013, let me just say this: yes, Christie handled this storm well, but remember who his opponent will (hopefully) be. It's not like Cory Booker wouldn't know how to kick some hurricane ass himself. And unlike Christie, he's not wicked or corrupt in general. Booker '13!