As the candidate challenging Cory Booker, Republican Justin Murphy certainly needs attention.

But not this kind.

Booker and local Democrats are condemning Murphy for anti-Muslim comments he made during a "town hall" last week sponsored by Morris County Republicans.

As first reported by Matt Friedman of Politico, Murphy was asked by an audience member about "radical Islam," and an alleged Muslim problem in Texas.

He said a lot of people are afraid to answer questions like that.

Actually, it's the actual answer that can be problematic.

Murphy talked about an immigration problem and wondered why so many Somalians wind up living in the same congressional district in Minnesota. Can't be because of the weather, he quipped.

It is not always prudent to analyze off the cuff political statements too closely.

Yet, this is no mystery. Ethnic groups have lived in the same neighborhood for generations upon arrival in this country. Think "Little Italy" in lower Manhattan and, of course, scores of other examples. Nothing sinister about it.

There's more.

Murphy recounted that someone said to him the other day that, "We ought to get rid of all the Arabs."

Murphy said he responded:

"‘Why? We can’t get rid of all of them. Some of them are Christian. Some of them have the faith and belief and tenets that our country was built on."

So, Arabs who are Christains can stay. but those who are not??

He also spoke of a "cultural war" to support and protect the nation's Judeo-Christian tradition. OK. But how does that square with New Jersey's Muslim and Hindu population?

I  digress. I saw Murphy at a town hall earlier this summer In Middlesex County and he struck me as likeable and sincere.

That makes these remarks quite unfortunate - and certainly not the type of thing that helps a campaign.

Murphy has not yet returned a phone call, but he has said he was speaking about "radical Islam."

Booker, who had been ignoring Murphy, was energized. Here is part of what he posted

"These remarks by Mr. Murphy are vile. This is bigotry, plain and simple, and it must be resoundingly condemned. This kind of hate is cancerous. Left unchallenged, it spreads, and I will not let that happen.

This is more than an attack on Muslim and Arab Americans. It is an attack on what America stands for: our shared values, our common humanity, and the fundamental promise that every one of us belongs."

Darcy Draeger, the Morris County Democratic Chairwoman, said, in part, " Islamophobia has no place in Morris County or New Jersey. "

Just as an aside, and as Friedman also noted, the Republican candidate for the lone Morris County Commission seat this year is Tayfun Selen, a Muslim originally from Turkey.