Actually, it was the Democrats who did the scheduling and the are being hoist by their own petard. Some electoral shenanigans from years back, preventing Gubernatorial and Senate elections from occurring the same day.
You know, Christie could have appointed Steve Lonegan for the seat for the duration of Lautenberg's term.
He chose to hold a special election. His appointee (that did not even run in the primary) voted for cloture on Monday.
It was Christie's decision that necessitated any special election. Don't blame the dems from years ago. The buck stops with Christie on this one.