The Fox News host let it be known on his radio show Thursday that he was seriously contemplating a run for the Senate from New Jersey in 2014. He said that in weighing a race against Cory Booker or Frank Lautenberg, he had been in touch with some Republican leaders in the state.
That’s right, Geraldo, who is on his fifth wife, wants the GOP to embrace him. (Of his tryst on a Central Park boat ride with Margaret Trudeau, he writes: “The estranged first lady of Canada leant new meaning to the term head of state.”)
He’s been a liberal crusader on illegal immigration. He is pro-choice on abortion. He favors gay rights and same-sex marriage. Good luck with that in a Republican primary.
It’s not that Geraldo, who has a law degree, isn’t a smart guy. Or that everyone in the Senate is a towering statesman. And the man certainly knows how to draw attention.
The media would love to cover a Geraldo candidacy, or even Senator Geraldo, given the sizable collection of dullards that work in the Capitol.
But his career is filled with the kind of inflammatory soundbites that give campaign managers heartburn. Like when he said that Trayvon Martin would be alive if he hadn’t been wearing a hoodie. And who can forget when the military nearly kicked him out of Iraq for drawing a map in the sand about an upcoming operation?
There have been serious periods in Geraldo’s journalistic life. He started out as a good investigative reporter, has parachuted into war zones, and once hosted a smart legal affairs program on CNBC. He’s taken courageous stands at times. But he also has a knack for talking himself into trouble. Back in 2007 he went after fellow Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin for her views on immigration, calling her “the most vile, hateful commentator I’ve ever met in my life” and saying that if he saw her, “I’d spit on her.” Geraldo later apologized.