Max Pizarro's Video Blog

Addressing 150 people at an Obama campaign event Saturday in Newark's Masonic Temple, Councilman Ron Rice, Jr., says the naysayers have dismissed his presidential candidate at each juncture of Obama's campaign - only to be proved wrong.

Longtime Obama supporter Newark Councilman Ron Rice, Jr., says good performances in early primary states will expand the interest of New Jersey voters to another level.

There are many players on the Democratic Party team, and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich is one. But when it comes to leadership, Obama is the man, says Booker. 

Newark Mayor Cory Booker says he's never met a person who "screams sagacity" as does Sen. Barack Obama.

Longtime Obama volunteer Julie Diaz of Perth Amboy signs up volunteers in Newark to pound pavement for her presidential candidate.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker says once Obama scores early, states like New Jersey with primaries scheduled on Feb. 5th will come into play. The campaign won't be able to stretch the ad money to all those states, which means the organizers will play a decisive role.

With an eye on the presidential polls in Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina where their candidate is competitive, Obama supporters rallied at the Masonic Temple in Newark on Saturday in preparation for the February 5th primary in New Jersey - where Obama is not competitive.

At least not today. Not right now.

That could change depending on what happens in the earlier primaries, and for a presidential candidacy built on change, a subject Obama's supporters figure they know well, they like the odds.

"This is going to come down to what kind of organization we have in key states around the country," Mayor Cory Booker told a crowd of 150. "New Jersey is probably one of the bellwether states in terms of where this primary is going to go."

At an appearance at the Derryfield School in Manchester, N.H., Sen. John McCain is asked how he would fund the War in Iraq. McCain answers that the war is tragic but necessary.

John McCain fans in New Jersey may not get a chance to see their favorite hell-raiser in February. If he fails to impress in New Hampshire, he's done.

"Friends, families fight," newly elected Burlington County GOP Chairman Bill Layton tells his fellow Republicans. Now it's time to unify and battle the Republicans mobilized on the county's southern border, he adds.