Gov. Jon Corzine campaigns with Middlesex County Freeholder Ronald Rios and family in Carteret at the Independence Day Festival on Friday evening.

CARTERET - The barges and freighters come through here on their way to Raritan Bay and passing on the Friday before the Fourth of July, some of them give a blast to the crowd gathered at the Carteret Municipal Marina where Staten Island almost seems a strong sidearm throw away but where the band plays the obligatory Springsteen cover - lest anyone doubt this is the Jersey side of the river.

In this case it's "Pink Cadillac" as Gov. Jon Corzine heads through the corridor of tents mobbed with revelers eager for nighttime.

An old factory town literally split in half by the Turnpike, Carteret occupies a point on the Arthur Kill that looks like it could crack off with the weight of reinforced concrete and rustbelt reject silos, warehouses stacked almost to the water's edge and now clusters of condos. The feeling in the working class crowd Friday is more than upbeat on the eve of Independence Day, with plates of ethnic food reflective of more mixed culture than any one definable or dominant strain.

Politically it's not as commingled. 

While 12 of Middlesex County's 25 towns have more registered voters than Carteret, the 10,797 registereds here are 4-1 Democrat over Republican with half unaffiliated. 

Roselle Mayor Garrett Smith

Roselle Mayor Garrett Smith needed this one, and so did the Union County Democratic Organization.
 
Those two mutually exclusive desires added up to one thing: a war.
 
Ever since former Assemblyman Neil Cohen's (D-Roselle) career went belly up amid charges of keeping child porn on his computer, the battle lines for local party control intensified here in his town, which, depending on your perspective, is either a buffer for Westfield against the danger-zone of Elizabeth or a buffer for Elizabeth against the whitebread excesses of Cranford and Westfield.
 
A mild-mannered wonk in Trenton, Cohen could get tough in his hometown as head of the local party. He wasn't beyond delivering full-blown, profanity-laced public dress-downs to recalcitrant committee members as he dealt with the ongoing headache of Smith, a charismatic independent Democrat, originally from Jersey City, who built his name as head of a thriving local basketball league before seeking his first term as mayor in 2003.
 
Smith and Cohen could grudgingly come together to beat on Republicans in presidential or gubernatorial general elections, but mostly they embroiled themselves in a Roselle battle-royale with themselves as chief antagonists.

Good morning New Jersey, here is your Wake-Up Call. Each morning PolitickerNJ.com sifts through the day's news and commentary to find the stories you need to read. We scour the web for New Jersey's top political stories to pull together the important headlines in one place. Like the Wake-Up Call? Sign up to have it emailed to your laptop, Blackberry or phone. It's free and easy!

“Reporters Roundtable with Michael Aron”

Aron hosts Mary Fuchs of The Star-Ledger, The Record’s Al Doblin, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jonathan Tamari and yours truly, Matt Friedman.  We’ll discuss the budget, the race for governor and the gubernatorial candidates’ newfound time to pick a running mate.  

Airs: Friday at 7pm, Sunday at 10am on NJN

“On the Record”

Michael Aron hosts a show consisting of excerpts from Chris Christie testifying before a U.S. House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law in Washington, DC.

Airs: Sunday at 9am and 11am, Monday at 6:30am

“New Jersey Now”

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-Hoboken) talks about reopening the crown of the Statue of Liberty and Hispanic contributions to the United States; Cuban-American Assembly members Caridad Rodriguez (D-West New York) and Vincent Prieto (D-Jersey City) talk about coming from Cuba to the U.S.; Iraq vet and former congressional/freeholder candidate Tom Roughneen discusses veterans’ contributions.  

Airs: Sunday at 12pm

"Power and Politics"

Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky and Republican lobbyist Roger Bodman talk about the gubernatorial race; Eagleton Institute New Jersey Project Director Ingrid Reed gives her take; and Dr. Bart Rossi, psychologist and self proclaimed political junkie , analyzes candidates’ body language.  Hosted by Jim McQueeney and Laura Jones.

Airs: Saturday and Sunday at 10am and 3pm on New 12 New Jersey

NJN executive Janice Selinger was appointed temporary acting executive director on Tuesday, the network announced today.

Selinger replaces former anchor Kent Manahan, who was NJN’s acting executive director. The New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority’s Board of Commissioners, which now counts Manahan a a member, made the decision.  

The 12-time Emmy Award winning Selinger has been with the network since 1979, and has served as its deputy executive director for production and executive producer of national and local documentaries.

HAMILTON -- Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie said he doesn’t know for sure whether any of President Obama’s luster will rub off on embattled Gov. Jon Corzine when he visits in support of him later this month, but he doubts it. 

“I firmly do believe that it’s not a race about President Obama. I think it’s a race about Jon Corzine and his record, and me and my vision for what the future would be,” said Christie.  “I don’t think New Jerseyans are going to decide how to vote based upon who comes and visits.”

Obama, who remains popular in New Jersey, is set to campiagn with Corzine on July 16 at Rutgers University.   

PolitickerNJ.com serendipitously ran into Christie at Panera Bread on Route 130 in Hamilton, where he was lunching with his security consultant, former State Police Major Al DelVento, in between campaign stops in Trenton and Hamilton. 

In a three minute interview, Christie answered two other questions before hitting the Turnpike: one on state Supreme Court Justice Barry Albin’s confirmation to tenure until mandatory retirement at age 70, and one on a poll that showed public support for Governor Corzine’s budget.

Former council candidate Jimmy King’s complaint against Nidia Lopez has grown some legs in Jersey City and Orlando.

The Jersey Journal reports today that Florida officials are investigating Lopez for claiming a tax break on her Orlando home that required her to be a permanent resident, and that they’re seeking repayment of the money she saved from it.

PolitickerNJ.com first reported on Tuesday that defeated King filed a complaint against Lopez attempting to invalidate her election.  

Lopez was sworn in yesterday.  At the inauguration ceremony, she said that she did not want to talk about the charges because it was a “day for celebration,” but referred inquiries about it to her attorney, William Northgrave. 

Good morning New Jersey, here is your Wake-Up Call. Each morning PolitickerNJ.com sifts through the day's news and commentary to find the stories you need to read. We scour the web for New Jersey's top political stories to pull together the important headlines in one place. Like the Wake-Up Call? Sign up to have it emailed to your laptop, Blackberry or phone. It's free and easy!

PASSAIC - Standing in the midst of a melting pot audience, with Latinos, Jews and African Americans dominant in a crowd that also contained a smattering of Italians and Indians, and probably sprinklings of just about everything else given Passaic and Passaic pride, School Board member Salim Patel requested a hand for the first Dominican-American mayor in the United States.

There was clapping.

Then Mayor Alex Blanco stood, and the School No. 6 auditorium erupted.

As usual at these big ticket events here in Passaic, the mayor had top-tier love in the room in the form of Gov. Jon Corzine and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken), who both backed Blanco for mayor earlier this year.  

"If you truly love Passaic, you must help him succeed, because in his success, the people of Passaic succeed," Menendez said.

Child of immigrant parents Blanco went to the podium early, but not before Menendez spoke, wringing a laugh-line out of a setup created by the cheering section for Councilman-elect Terrance L. Love, the governing body's lone black.