Rush Holt and Cory Booker

This is Rush Holt. He's a rocket scientist.

New Jersey is about to have a special election to fill the vacant Senate seat left by Frank Lautenberg, who passed away this week. One of the dems running for this seat is Rush Holt, who is quite possibly my favorite congressman, and Cory Booker, who I also support. Booker will win this election, he's just too damn popular, which is great, but take some time to read up on Holt, he really is a fascinating man. Not only has the National Journal ranked him as one of the eight most liberal members of Congress, but he has also beaten John McCain in a televised game of Jeopardy, made Darwin Day a New Jersey holiday, and happens to be an actual rocket scientist. A real one.

I like Cory Booker, he does a lot of crazy superhero stuff and the camera happens to conveniently be there for the photo-op, but I do think he is a good person. The altruistic liberal would bring a lot of good to the Senate, and his track record in Newark more than qualifies him. However, he isn't Rush Holt, and it is a shame that celebrity is going to play such a big role in this. Let's compare some factoids and see how they stack up.

Rush Holt

-First research physicist ever elected to US Congress

-Holt beat John McCain and the computer Watson on Jeopardy

-He is extremely pro-choice

-Supports a public health care option

-Is against the privatization of social security

-Reintroduced the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act in 2011

-Co-sponsored the No New Drilling Act in 2012 to prevent drilling on the outer continental shelf

-Defeated a bill that would have decreased federal funding for Planned Parenthood

-Sponsored the Helping Senior Citizens Choose Their Own Drug Plan Act, increasing the amount of access 

that low income senior citizens have to prescription medication through Medicare

-A ranking member of the subcommittee on energy and mineral resources

-Sponsored the Judicious Use of Surveillance Tools in Counterterrorism Efforts Act of 2009 that increased limits on governmental power with respect to counterterrorism efforts

Cory Booker

-Went on a 10 day hunger strike to bring attention to the dangers of open air drug dealing

-Lived on a "food stamp budget" to raise awareness of food insecurity

-Shoveled a constituent's driveway because he was asked too

-Let hurricane Sandy victims stay at his house

-Helped another constituent propose to his girlfriend

-Rescued a dog (see above)

-Saved a woman FROM A BURNING BUILDING (seriously, not kidding here's the link to the rescue)

-As mayor of Newark he has increased the police force, ended background checks for select city jobs so that former offenders could find employment with the city, expanded summer youth programs, and refurbished every single police station and firehouse while somehow managing to cut taxes

-Is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition 

-Newark has led the NATION in violent crime reduction for 3 years straight

-Was Mayor for Newark's first murder free month in 44 years

-Has doubled the amount of affordable housing in Newark

-Has decreased the budget deficit from 180$ million to 73$ million in Newark

Pretty impressive resumes right? In addition to those big lists, Booker is a graduate of Stanford, Yale Law School, and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University while Mr.Holt is a graduate of the Landon School, got his B.A. in Physics from Carleton College, and later received his M.A. and Ph.D. in physics at New York University. Both of these men would make great Senators, but as for my own personal opinion, I think that Rush Holt would do a better job. Look at the sheer amount of bills that he has managed to pass in a Republican controlled house. Look at how progressive his ideas are, and the fact that he has a couple decades of experience implementing them. Cory Booker is going to win the seat, and I really hope that he can continue to bring his unique approach to ending violence and improving the quality of life for those he represents on a much larger Senate level.

'I'm more interested in the way that scientists are trained to deal with uncertainty, to deal with evidence and statistical reasoning, things that are lacking in the political debate. When it comes to global warming, for instance, we don't need people in Congress who understand atmospheric pressure, or glaciation. We simply need them to be open to the idea that evidence might disprove what they think they know. And that, is thinking like a scientist." -Rush Holt