New WHYY Post: Why is Cory Booker Wimping Out on Common Core?

In my column today at WHYY Newsworks, I look at NJ's tightening senatorial race between Cory Booker and Steve Lonegan, particularly  Booker's "triangulation" of his historically progressive views on public education.

When Cory Booker commenced his stately coronation march toward the late Frank Lautenberg's U.S. Senate seat last Spring, pundits dismissed his GOP opponent Steve Lonegan as a hapless also-ran, unlikely to sway blue-ish Jersey towards his reactionary Tea Party platform. But with the October 16th election just one week away the race is tightening and, according to one recent poll, Booker, remarkably, is only 13 points ahead. While the Newark mayor will almost certainly win, his victory margin will be far slimmer than earlier projections despite the gulf between Lonegan and the political views of most New Jerseyans.

Read the rest here.