What's behind the Lautenberg-Norcross fight?

U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey has been feuding in public this week -- both with Republican Governor Chris Christie and with his fellow Democrats. Lautenberg called for the Education Secretary to investigate Christie's plan to merge Rutgers-Camden into Rowan University.

Yesterday, Governor Christie called Lautenberg a "partisan hack."

Lautenberg also has been trading barbs with South Jersey powerbroker George Norcross, who as the chairman of the board of Cooper University Hospital, is a prime backer of the Rowan-Rutgers merger.

State Senate President Steve Sweeney signed an open letter accusing Lautenberg of a "callous disregard" for South Jersey.

To make sense of this we turn to Brigid Harrison, political science professor at Montclair State University.