ROB ANDREWS

Newark Mayor Cory Booker

NEWARK – Television star Oprah Winfrey’s decision this month to drop a $500,000 gift on Steve Adubato’s North Ward Center effectively stamps out the fuse on a standoff between the North Ward Democratic leader and Winfrey confidante Mayor Cory Booker, in a resolution that underscores the political strengths of the two main combatants.

If Adubato, native Newarker and a grizzled guru now in his seventies, proved his relevance by waging a war in the streets and alleys he has known since childhood, Booker the Bergen County outsider turned Newark activist and statewide star, proved his manna from Heaven connections. 

And the community won in the end, according to sources from both camps, as Adubato’s Blue Ribbon charter school, the Robert Treat Academy - whose students consistently rate higher math and science test scores than students in schools in all of urban New Jersey and all of Essex County - stands to get an unprecedented infusion of funds.

The contribution came with a back story.  

For almost as long as Booker’s been in office, Adubato poked, prodded, cajoled, and chest-thumped in the face of the young star’s particular power, and now sources close to the North Ward leader say he intends to endorse the first term mayor for reelection next year.

It’s been an odd relationship.

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights)

CAMDEN - Nearly a year after his crash and burn run for U.S. Senate, U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) may still possess statewide fever, especially if a comment he made this weekend to PolitickerNJ.com proves to have deeper resonance in an unfolding campaign cycle.

"You'll be seeing me up north again soon," said Andrews, who last year made numerous forays into Bayonne, Newark, Woodbridge and Jersey City in an unsuccessful attempt to take down incumbent U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) in the Democratic Primary.

The congressman attended Saturday's campaign kickoff of longtime friend and ally, state Sen. Dana Redd (D-Camden), who is running for Camden mayor.

For months prior to her decision to go after the mayor's job, Redd was many political insiders' pick as a lieutenant governor candidate on a ticket with Gov. Jon Corzine.

Mayoral candidate/state Sen. Dana Redd (D-Camden)

CAMDEN - Ensconsed in the trappings of Democratic Party power, hometown hero state Sen. Dana Redd (D-Camden), whose parents were the victims of a double homicide when she was eight years old, today announced her candidacy for mayor with a promise to bring a crime-beleagured city back to waterfront glory. 

"Let's put an end to the petty, counter-productive bickering, no more fighting, ward against ward, black against Hispanic. I'm declaring it today, it is over," said Redd in an atmosphere still energized by President Barack Obama's Jan. 20th swearing-in and his call for national unity.  

The 40-year old Camden native entered the race with the blessing if not official backing of incumbent Mayor Gwendolyn Faison, 82, who stood briefly onstage and appeared to be just bucked up enough to make some “Camden first” comments in the face of party leaders who respectfully acknowledged Faison’s service before firmly throwing whatever heft they have behind rising star Redd. 

"I'm the mayor that made Camden work," an almost defiant-sounding Faison said. "I'm here today because the city is bigger than me. My heart is with Camden. ...I am here to support anyone who will help the City of Camden. That is my statement."

She said she had intended to declare her intentions regarding her political future at a Feb. 23rd press conference, and gently made it known that Redd's presser today pre-empted her own plans somewhat.

Politico is reporting today that U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg and U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews are not on speaking terms after Andrews challenged Lautenberg in the 2008 Democratic primary.  “It’s going to take some time to get over this because how do you know that his word is his word?” U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. said of his House colleague, who reportedly had agreed not to run. 

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The New Jersey House delegation voted along party lines in support of President Barack Obama’s $89 billion economic stimulus package.  New Jersey’s eight Democratic Congressmen voted yes, while the five Republicans voted no.

U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, who began his fifth term in the U.S. Senate in January 2008, has beaten fifteen Democrats, five Republicans and 20 Independents on his path to becoming the longest serving Senator in New Jersey history.

U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-Fair Lawn)

HACKENSACK - New Bergen County Democratic Organization (BCDO) Chairman Michael Kasparian said he would support U.S. Steve Rothman (D-Fair Lawn) should Rothman at some time in the future see an opportunity to pursue a run for a vacant U.S. Senate seat. 

"If he ever ran for Senate, he would have my support," Kasparian told PolitickerNJ.com. "I am all about Bergen."

The remark came to a question within the context of some statewide intra-party wrangling that goes back to last year's U.S. Senate primary.

When then-BCDO Chairman Joe Ferriero appeared poised to endorse U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights), Rothman moved quickly.

Rather than conspiring with South Jersey to topple U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park), Rothman believed the Bergen County party chairman should refrain from endorsing until a vacancy occured. 

Gov. Richard J. Hughes won 91% of the vote in the 1965 Democratic gubernatorial primary, when he sought re-election to a second term.

Only twice have incumbent statewide officeholders lost primary elections.  They were both Republicans: in 1973, U.S. Rep. Charles Sandman defeated Governor William Cahill by a 58%-41% margin; and in 1978, when four-term U.S. Senator Clifford Case lost to Jeffrey Bell, a 35-year-old former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, by a 51%-49% margin.

In 1977, Governor Brendan Byrne had ten opponents in the Democratic primary, including two Congressmen, a State Senator, and his own Commissioner of Labor.  Byrne won with 30% of the vote; U.S. Rep. Robert Roe came in second with 23%.

The most high profile primary against an incumbent came in 2008, when 84-year-old U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg faced a major challenge from U.S. Rep. Robert Andrews.  Lautenberg won 59% of the vote in the Democratic primary, with 35% for Andrews and 6% for Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello. 

Lautenberg has faced two minor challenges as an incumbent.  He won 81% against Bill Campbell and Lynne Speed in 1994 and 80% against Elnardo Webster (the father of a powerful Democratic lawyer) and Harold Young in 1988.

With the entrance of Chris Christie into the Republican gubernatorial primary, the GOP has greatly enhanced its chances of capturing the governor's mansion. While Christie certainly will be a strong candidate, the fact that he faces another prominent Republican in Steve Lonegan means that a significant amount of media attention will be focused on the Republican primary, while the Democratic candidate, in all likelihood the incumbent Governor Corzine, will be attending to state business. Unfortunately, in this economic climate attending to state business means that Governor Corzine will be cutting budgets rather than cutting ribbons.

Conventional wisdom generally holds that a any primary pitting the state's two most recognizable candidates against one another is a recipe for disaster, especially when facing a well-financed incumbent. However, I believe conventional wisdom is wrong in this case. In an off-year election cycle like New Jersey's, the media's attention will be focused on the gubernatorial primary, especially the "horse-race" elements, and will provide the candidates in the primary an unprecedented degree of media coverage.  The result will be a significant boost in their name recognition among voters. 

This was the situation that Democrats faced in 1997 when Jim McGreevey, Mike Murphy and Rob Andrews squared off against one another. Christie Whitman, the incumbent, waited in the wings and received little attention. (Governors performing their normal duties are usually not very newsworthy.) The Democratic race that year was the big news story, and it received the lion's share of media attention. As a result, the event winner of the primary, Jim McGreevey, nearly pulled off an upset against Whitman.

Union leader Buzz Dressel is expected to run for Bergen County Democratic Chairman if Joe Ferriero is ousted.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 164 endorsed Republican Henry McNamara for Bergen County Executive in 2002 at the request of Democratic powerhouse John Lynch, according to Richard "Buzz" Dressel, the business manager for the local.  Lynch, a former Senate President, is now serving a 39 month sentence after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges.

If there is contest to replace indicted Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero, Dressel is expected to face off against Michael Kasparian, a real estate developer and Democratic fundraiser with ties to Ferriero.  Dressel says the IBEW's endorsements of McNamara and GOP County Clerk Kathleen Donovan won't hamper his ability to replace Ferriero.  He says the union was backing McNamara because he was stronger in his opposition to the Xanadu project than the eventual winner, Democrat Dennis McNerney.  And he says even Ferriero tried to get Donovan to seek re-election last year as a Democrat.

State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Wood-Ridge), who met with Kasparian today, says Dressel shouldn't be penalized for a couple of union endorsements.

"That was his union, it wasn't specifically Buzzy," said Sarlo.   "Look, if the county committee picks him he would have to guarantee that all endorsements out of that union hall are Democratic."

At 3,500 members, Dressel's local is the largest electrical construction workers union in the state.

"That's the largest union in Bergen County, and the fact that he's the president could turn into a big positive for him," said Sarlo.

Dressel's union, whose campaign contributions included one to GOP gubernatorial candidate Bret Schundler in 2001, will endorse only Democrats from now on.  "Without a doubt," he told PolitickerNJ.com.

"We need to bring credibility back to the Bergen County Democratic Party," added Dressel, a Commissioner of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. "This is not the Democratic Party my grandfather was a part of. We're supposed to be connecting people to the process, and that's what I want to do. I want to bring the party back together. I'd actually be calling for meetings and a transparent process. Meanwhile, there's somebody running against me who is unequivocally Joe Ferriero's clone."

On his way in to meet with Paramus developer and Democratic Party fundraiser Kasparian today, State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) dismissed the rumor of a conflict and said Dressell shouldn't be penalized for backing a Republican or two.