Battle stations in the Central Ward

Newark – There’s a big show of Booker force in the Central Ward that even has hardened campaign veterans backing former Councilman Charles Bell doing an early gutcheck .

“It’s David and Goliath,”’ says Central Ward Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Brown, watching the fusion of unions working for Mayor Cory Booker’s candidate and their fellow Laborer, Eddie Osborne, overrun the giant Central Ward, pop. 58,000.

“Their forces outnumber us, 10-1,” says Brown. “And they’ve got a drag operation going, hoping new Obama voters are going to drag down the ballot to vote for Osborne. I’ve been telling people not to confront them. Just stay in your spots. We can’t win if we confront them. They’re too many of them.”

Down in the South Ward, Booker stands on line in University High School, waiting to vote. He’s come after the early rush. He doesn’t have to wait long. He takes his time behind the curtains, emerges, and laughs when someone asks him deadpan what it feels like to vote for a woman on a national ticket.

No one in New Jersey’s been on the megaphone more for Obama than Booker.

But in this local battle, the mayor’s all about Osborne, who’s running in a field with 14 other candidates with the bulk of Newark muscle mostly behind Bell.

Why won’t it be different from the South Ward district leader fight, Booker’s asked, when his allies appeared to be an overwhelming street presence, then melted when the votes were counted and the Paynes maintained control against Booker’s attempt at an incursion.

The mayor’s not unlike his adversaries in sizing up this contest.

He doesn’t pretend the Osborne race is going to be anything other than very challenging.

“Bell’s people have had a head start in terms of organization,” says the mayor. “We know that if people make the association between me and Osborne, that he’ll win. Whether we’ve had the time to do that in a short election cycle, we’ll see.

“This is a day that nobody can predict,” adds Booker, referring to the Central Ward struggle. “But one thing I will say is we will all win in the end when Barack Obama becomes our next president.”