Senator Suggests Cory Booker Needs a 'Spanking' for Threatening to Challenge Him

Frank Lautenberg, the 88-year-old New Jersey senator, suggested that Newark mayor Cory Booker needs a "spanking" for threatening to run for the Senate seat he holds.

"I have four children, I love each one of them. I can't tell (you) that one of them wasn't occasionally disrespectful, so I gave them a spanking and everything was OK," Lautenberg tells the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Lautenberg adds, "I've got a lot of work to do yet, serious things and we pride ourselves (in) my office and my team (on) getting things done. That's the focus. I'm not thinking about the politics right now."

The senator has not revealed whether he'll run again for the seat. He'll be 90 at the time of the next election. But he did say he might:

Booker has said he is mulling a run, but has not committed to challenging Lautenberg. He dodged questions on the issue Sunday night at the New Jersey State Society inaugural gala.

Booker might have competition for the job, Lautenberg said.

"He's entitled to do it," Lautenberg said of a possible Booker candidacy. "He'll have to stand on his record and I'm sure he won't be a lone soldier out there drooling at the mouth and wanting this cushy job that we have here."