Lautenberg's Gaffe

Come January, Sen. Frank Lautenberg won't be New Jersey's junior senator anymore: he'll be back in the senior saddle. Perhaps anticipating his ascension, he jumped the gun a bit yesterday.

Approached by WCBS-TV NJ reporter Christine Sloan, Lautenberg agreed to go on camera and discuss Corzine's pick for Senate. Sloan asked: "Have you talked to Jon Corzine about his choice?"

"Well, I talked to Jon. It was his decision but it had my affirmation, absolutely," he replied.

"And that choice?" she asked.

"Bob Menendez," Lautenberg said.

While Lautenberg may have been stating the obvious, he hadn't been cleared to do so. No one from the Corzine or Menendez camps has confirmed the governor-elect's decision yet. The news leaked out on Wednesday, but Corzine won't divulge his big secret until this afternoon, at 2 p.m. in Jersey City.

Oops.

And... a newly-annointed Menendez will appear on "Sunday Edition with Marcia Kramer" (WCBS-TV, channel 2, 11 a.m.).

(Lautenberg illustration borrowed from Slate, with love.)