Using Cory Booker's Hedge Fundie/Charter School Connections Against Him

Buzzfeed has a piece out that says opponents of Newark Mayor Cory Booker have a four-pronged strategy to take him out before the special election to replace Frank Lautenberg's Senate seat from NJ - and one part of that strategy is to hit him on charters and his adversarial relationship with teachers:

But one a strategist connected to an opposing campaign said one weak spot in Booker’s campaign would be “the fact that his record in Newark is even debatable,” the source said. “You look at Pallone and Holt and you see a proven record in Washington, not to mention a voting record.”

As mayor of a city, Booker has managerial experience that very well may appeal to voters, but Pallone and Holt have both voted on a range of economic, social, and foreign issues on the floor of the House, providing voters a clear sense of where both candidates stand on national policy.

Rival candidates could also seize on Booker’s strained relationship with state teachers unions, as well as his support for charter schools, which are championed by the same hedge fund and Wall Street communities that have financed Booker for years.

“That’s what makes us least comfortable,” said Steve Phillips, a progressive fundraiser whose political action committee has vowed to raise $1 to $2 million for Booker. “I understand the complexities of trying to do something for lower-income kids in a political bureaucracy, but if I could wave my magic wand, I wouldn’t want him as close to the hedge fund folks as he is.”

Booker is way ahead of Frank Pallone and Rush Holt in polls, but as one commenter in the piece notes: “Nothing is inevitable.”

We'll see.

If nothing else, exposing Booker for the opportunistic corporate whore he is would be a good thing.