Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) is staying as far away as he
can from the brewing battle between Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Newark
Mayor Cory Booker (D-N.J).
Menendez declined to weigh in when asked on ABC’s “This Week”
on a potential Lautenberg-Booker primary contest, which has already gotten heated after Booker
said last month he’s exploring a run for Lautenberg’s seat.
“That election is next year, and all of the back-and-forth
now is something I’m really not focused on,” Menendez said.
Lautenberg, 88, has not yet announced his plans for 2014, and
he said this week that Booker was “entitled to run.”
But he also suggested he would give Booker “a spanking.”
"I have four children, I love each one of them. I can't
tell [you] that one of them wasn't occasionally disrespectful, so I gave them a
spanking and everything was OK," Lautenberg told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
“This Week” host Martha Raddatz tried several times to get
Menendez’s thoughts about Booker’s potential primary challenge, but Menendez
wasn’t interested in discussing it.
“That’s a question for Sen. Lautenberg and Mayor Booker,”
he said.
