Democrat Darling Cory Booker Facing Battle As NJ Senate Race Tightens

As one of the Democratic Party's rising stars, Cory Booker was supposed to have a cakewalk to the U.S. Senate.

Booker, the charismatic mayor of Newark, faces conservative activist Steve Lonegan in the Oct. 16 special election to finish the term of Frank Lautenberg, who died in June. While Booker is still considered a heavy favorite, a 35-point lead he held just two months ago has dwindled to 12 points, according to recent polls. Political observers say it is common for a race to tighten as election day approaches, but that doesn't completely explain a Tea Party favorite closing the gap on Booker in a state that voted overwhelmingly for President Obama.

“My sense is that the numbers reflect complacency in the Booker campaign,” Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University, told FoxNews.com. “The Booker people wrote off Lonegan as a right-wing crank and small-town mayor. Booker was on the fast track to election, and there was a growing realization that he saw the race wrapped up and that’s always a mistake.

“It’s one thing to be confident. It’s another to be complacent.”

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