Clifford Minor

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.

Lionel Leach and Jackie Teel, working the phones in Clinton HQ in NewarkWhen Sen. Ronald Rice and North Ward Democratic Party boss Steve Adubato find themselves in the same political foxhole, something is either amiss, or it’s a presidential election year.

In certain company, the lead-up to Tuesday’s historic Democratic Primary contest looks like some incidental skirmish in Newark with here-today, gone-tomorrow alliances, played out as a backdrop to that more fervent chess war between local rivals angling for the real epic of some area city council and freeholder races later this year.

Lionel Leach, Rice’s former campaign field director, serves as spokesman for Sen. Hillary Clinton in her campaign’s week-and-a-half old Broad Street headquarters, even as North Ward Democratic Organization campaign firebrand Sen. M. Teresa Ruiz continues to steel the Latino vote for Clinton in rallies statewide. On the heels of his own family fight with Adubato, U.S. Rep. Donald Payne also intends to do some campaigning for Clinton this weekend.