say wow, we could be the last guy standing because if it s going to come down they ll all kill each other off and we ll be the guy. that s kind of the way it worked for romney. benjamin wallace-wells and nick acocella, thank you both for joining us tonight. thank you. thanks for having us. coming up, proof that bill o reilly is not the sociologist he thinks he is, especially when he s talking about american single mothers. that s coming up. in the spotlight we are going to introduce you to two remarkable young men who wrote essays in sunday s new york times about growing up with their single moms in mississippi and making the tough choice to go off to harvard and yale. yes, for them it was a very different choice than it is for most students. it wasn t an easy thing to do. you ll hear their stories coming up. d chocolate shakes. (growls) (man) that s a good look for you.
if there s a senate rate on the ballot in november. do you agree with that? that is a correct calculation? i think you ve got it right, steve. but i also say that that s pretty much what chris christie is. he looks very quickly at what is strategically in effect important for him and he makes the decision and he sticks with it. sometimes it s a little awkward, as in this case. but i think that it s what politicians who have power and can make decisions like that, particularly if you show it s a good thing as well for the citizens from his point of view. speaking of that, nick, what has the reaction been in new jersey? you know, editorial boards have been against this. not really. is it affecting christie s image. the editorial boards have been mixed. some saying it s going to cost $24 million but maybe this was the best idea. the problem he had some terrible choices here. if you pick 2014, let s
christie enjoys making. he was being cute and it showed. all right. i want to bring in my guests, a staff reporter at american prospect magazine, editor and publisher of the legendary new jersey newsletter politifacts, robert costa, washington editor of national review magazine, former director of new jersey project there and now a visiting associate. if i m stullabling over my words i m excited to see everybody. i m excited to nick and ingrid. welcome to all of you. i ll start with you, ingrid. election night 2002, i remember doing news 12 in new jersey, perfect to answer this, we talk about chris christie s calculation there, you know, he will take grief now but he thinks whatever grief he s taking now is better for him and his party than what would happen
chris christie s looking for a 1985-type win. in 85 tom kaine wins resounding. christie s thinking i can establish a legacy. i m popular in the polls. booker not only is a distraction, he s a threat and that s the strategy and politics behind what christie did with the maneuver. i want to thank nick acocella, robert costa, ingrid reid at rutgers. the most amazing twist of fate i have ever seen in politics involve frank lautenberg. i want to tell you about it after this. [ male announcer ] erica had a rough day. there was this and this. she got a parking ticket. and she forgot to pay her credit card bill on time. good thing she s got the citi simplicity card. it doesn t charge late fees or a penalty rate. ever. as in never ever.
understand, two statutes and they contradict each other. when you clear out underbrush one says november 13, the other says november 14 the other say call a special election, same language. if he would have chosen 14 he would have gone to court and lost. republicans have not fared well with new jersey supreme court in elections. we found this. the national republicans won in 2014. mitch mcconnell was chewing on a washcloth when christie decided not to go with 2014. he wasn t going to go with 2013 because politicians don t shoot themselves in the foot. yeah. he s left with nothing else but this choice. robert, nick mentions mitch mcconnell, they looked at this and said 2014 in a lot of their minds was an option, there was an opinion leaked from the office of legislative services in trenton that said, yeah, our