She's called a special meeting, but will Council President Mildred Crump and the council take substantive action tomorrow?: Politicker photo 

NEWARK - They could end up coming out of their offices tomorrow and standing unified behind their fallen colleague with a statement of support, but a prospective City Council vote on whether or not to replace embattled former Councilwoman Dana Rone summons an inevitable question.

Who would vote to replace Rone, and who would replace her?

The fact that Council President Mildred Crump called a special meeting tomorrow at a time when East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador is on vacation may indicate that Mayor Cory Booker - an ally of Crump’s - wants the council to move on the vote as quickly as possible.

Some Newark sources say Crump - not Booker - has more of a stake in would-be replacement Nikea White; and that is was Crump acting alone, not the mayor, who pushed for tomorrow’s vote.

Mayor Cory Booker last night in the Central Ward. 

NEWARK - After his loss on Monday night, the last one of this cycle to draw his record to 0-3 in ward fights, Mayor Cory Booker walked outside in the Central Ward and was swarmed instantly by children.

"Mayor Booker!" they shouted. "Mayor Booker!"

They wanted to play in the middle of the heat wave that caused several power outages in the city on Monday, and Booker indulged them, even as his detractors seethed.

"He just got his butt kicked and he’s outside playing Simon Says," said a Newark operative.

NEWARK - State Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Newark) leaves Democratic Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Newark) operates on Election Day.Party headquarters at the Robert Treat Hotel to head back to the streets.

"I want to be out there," he says.

His son, West Ward Councilman Ron Rice, meanwhile, already is - driving from polling place to polling place in his ward and finding turnout sluggish at best.

First elected to the Newark City Council the same year Frank Lautenberg became a U.S. senator - 1982 - the elder Rice, and his son both back the re-election of U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) over U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews.

South Ward Councilman Oscar James II in headquarters.

NEWARK- Oscar James II doesn’t know if he can win this primary fight down here in Newark’s South Ward, but if he can hold Lautenberg to a stand-off, and other ground-level Andrews allies in northern New Jersey can do the same, maybe South Jersey can deliver big for the underdog.

That’s the plan anyway.

In the meantime, there’s another war he’s fighting.

A two-year councilman representing the most sprawling ward in the city, James knows U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-1) is a longshot in his challenge of U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). But as the Booker Team leader in the south, James wants to help bust apart the Payne family machine that has long controlled ward politics.