Booker, Lonegan spar in first NJ senatorial debate

Cory Booker and Steve Lonegan accused each other of “extremism” dozens of time in their first debate of the U.S. Senate race today.

They disagreed on nearly every topic – from Social Security reform to same-sex marriage to gun control. They preferred going after each other describing their policy proposals.

While Lonegan has focused much of his campaign on attacking Booker – who, at one point, held a 35-point lead in the polls – the Newark mayor only recently turned his attention to criticizing his Republican opponent.

“Sending my opponent down to Washington to join a fringe group of Tea Party people would make what’s wrong with Washington worse,” Booker said during a response to a question about immigration.

“The only economic growth in Newark is the pocketbook of Mayor Cory Booker,” Lonegan said after he was asked about plans for helping minorities.

Lonegan, the Republican former mayor of Bogota, said that if he is elected, he would “like to be known as the man who dismantled the IRS as we know it.”

That was part of Lonegan’s broader message that he would reduce the spending of government – which he described as part of a problem, not a solution. He said he would not agree not raise the nation’s debt ceiling with large cuts in government spending.

“We need to cut the size of government, cut hard, cut deep,” he said.

Booker frequently tried to tie Lonegan with the Tea Party, the conservative group affiliated with Americans for Prosperity. Lonegan was the state director of Americans for Prosperity, the conservative political advocacy group supported by energy billionaires David and Charles Koch, until he stepped down earlier this year.

“Because a small fringe of folks are not getting their way, they will shut down the government, they will play roulette with the full faith and credit of the government,” said Booker, Newark’s mayor.