Obama Endorses Booker for Senate

One good turn deserves another.

President Obama Wednesday endorsed Mayor Cory Booker, the Democratic candidate for US Senate and  co-chair of Obama’s 2008 New Jersey election campaign, NJ.com reported.   

"Cory Booker has dedicated his life to the work of building hope and opportunity in communities where too little of either existed," Obama said in a statement quoted by NJ.com. "Whether as a college student working in East Palo Alto or as mayor of New Jersey's largest city, Cory has time and again taken on tough challenges, fought for the middle class and those working to join it, and forged coalitions that create progress — and that's the spirit he'll carry with him to Washington."

Last week, Booker handily won a special primary election scheduled in the wake of Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s death, defeating three other candidates. Lautenberg, a Democrat, died in June at age 89.  

Booker will face Republican Steve Lonegan in another special election scheduled for mid-October. The winner will serve out the balance of Lautenberg’s term, which expires in 2014.