Cory Booker

Newark mayoral candidate Cory Booker was in Washington last night for a Georgetown fundraiser hosted by Cable TV tycoon Al Liggins and Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford. Congressmen Steven Rothman and Frank Pallone were in attendance. The Booker campaign expects over 500 people at a low dollar event tonight.

According to one Democratic insider involved in Cory Booker's campaign for Mayor, there will be a careful Cost-Benefit analysis before they decide whether they want/need an endorsement from Congressman Donald Payne. Payne's asking price, the insider says, might be too high -- in no particular order: a At-Large City Council seat for his son, Essex County Freeholder Donald Payne, Jr.; continued support of his brother, William Payne (29th district) and his nephew, Craig Stanley (28th district) when they seek re-election to the State Assembly next year; protection of numerous Payne allies who work for the City of Newark; support of certain Democratic County Committee members and backing for the re-election of another Payne relative, Essex County Democratic Chairman Phil Thigpen; a commitment to back a Payne ally, Assemblywoman Oadline Truitt (28th district), when she runs in a 2006 special election and again in 2007; and even a guarantee of support to keep his own House seat. (After defeating Mayor Kenneth Gibson in May 2006, Sharpe James endorsed Payne in his primary challenge to House Judiciary Chairman Peter Rodino.).

On the other hand, Booker (if he wins) might be hesistant to engage Payne in many local political battles -- at least during his early days as Mayor. Payne has been around Newark politics since the late 1960's and has won many more skirmishes than he has lost.

The first act of the prolonged political drama over Sharpe James' intentions finally ended on Monday with an announcement that he would not seek re-election to a sixth term as Mayor. But the second act -- about James' plan to seek re-election to his 29th district State Senate seat in 2007 -- could extend until after the April '07 filling deadline. James's re-election to the Senate is hardly automatic, especially if Cory Booker wins the mayoral election. James won 56% of the vote in the '03 Democratic Senate primary against City Councilman Luis Quinana, a Booker ally with continued interest in the Senate seat.

Ronald Rice, who has been the State Senator from the 28th district since 1986, is running against Booker for Mayor. If he loses, many Democrats believe that the Booker faction will attempt to take Rice out of the Senate next year. Rice won a 2001 primary against former Assembly Minority Leader Willie Brown with 54% of the vote, and prevailed in his 1997 primary against Larry Brown with 53%.

The top free agent in the race for Newark City Council is Donald Payne, Jr., a newly-elected Essex County Freeholder and the son of Congressman Donald Payne. Payne had initially agreed to run on a ticket with Mayor Sharpe James, but a week after filing his petitions, he announced that he would not slate up with James. With James out of the race, there is speculation that Payne will run on Cory Booker's ticket -- which could be interpreted as a huge wink and nod from the powerful Congressman.

Booker already has the scion of a prominent Newark political family on his ticket: Ronald Rice, Jr., the son of mayoral candidate Ronald Rice, is running for a West Ward Council seat against a James loyalist, Councilwoman Mamie Bridgeforth. Rice Jr. is supporting Booker, not his father -- as he did in 2002, when he ran a strong race for City Councilman At-Large on the Booker slate.

The third famous name in the race is John Sharpe James, the son of the outgoing Mayor, who is running for City Council in the South Ward. On the ballot as J. Sharpe James, he faces Booker Team candidate Oscar James, who is not related to the Mayor but was for many years his top advisor and campaign manager.

Newark City Councilman Hector Corchado, one of Mayor Sharpe James' strongest supporters, endorsed Cory Booker for Mayor just a few hours before James announced he would not seek re-election -- but there is no evidence that Booker cares. Corchado's opponent in the race for the North Ward Council seat, former Board of Education member Anibal Ramos, is a longtime Booker supporter. Tomorrow, some key members of Team Booker, including Councilmen Luis Quintana and Augusto Amador, and former Councilwoman Mildred Crump, will join Ramos to "accept" his endorsement of Booker for Mayor and of the Booker Council slate.

A source involved in Cory Booker's campaign for Mayor of Newark say that the "train has not yet left the station, but it will soon and people will most definitely be left behind" -- strongly suggesting that Booker will win the May election and that there is still time for former supporters of incumbent Sharpe James to join their team.

Hector Corchado has become the third Newark City Councilman to endose Booker; Corchado is in a competitive race with former Board of Education member Anibal Ramos, who has the backing of Corchado's political foe, Steven Adubato, Sr. Adubato is expected to back James, but Ramos is supporting Booker. Ramos, who called Corchado a key member of James' inner circle, said that "Corchado's ridiculous about-face endorsement of Cory Booker's candidacy reminds us of something out of a bad episode of TV's 'Survivor.' That he would throw his mentor, Sharpe James, under the bus so fast to save what's left of his weak campaign only shows you what he's all about - himself."

There continues to be intense speculation that James will drop his bid for a sixth term as Mayor of Newark. Several sources reported last Friday that James would talk to the press about his campaign, but that never happened.

City Council President Donald Bradley decided last Friday that he would not seek re-election to a sixth term, avoiding a nasty battle with Oscar James, Sharpe James' former campaign manager and advisor, and John James, the son of the Mayor, who is running as J. Sharpe James. James held the South Ward Council seat from 1974 to 1982, when he ran for an At-Large seat. He was replaced by Donald Payne, a former Freeholder, who served until his election to Congress in 1988. Payne's son, Donald Payne, Jr., who has been an Essex County Freeholder since January, is running for Councilman-At-Large; Payne Jr. had initially been slated to run on Sharpe James ticket, but withdrew from that slate last week.

Street Fight, a film about the 2002 Newark mayoral race between Sharpe James and Cory Booker, did not win the Academy Award for Best Documentary. The oscar went to March of the Penguins.

Unlike his Pingry classmate, Ronald Rice Jr. is keeping the Junior suffix in his campaign for City Councilman in Newark's West Ward. The Newark election this May might feature two Rice's on the ballot -- his father, State Senator Ronald Rice, is raising money to run for Mayor -- perhaps as Sharpe James' annointed successor. Rice Jr. has already committed to backing another candidate, Cory Booker; he will run on Booker's slate, as he did in 2002, when his father endorsed James. Rice and GOP U.S. Senate candidate Thomas Kean both graduated from the prestigious prep school in 1986; at the time, Kean's father was Governor and Rice's father was the West Ward Councilman (the death of Senator John Caufield in August 1986 paved the way for him to go to the Senate ten weeks later.) And for those who believe in technical correctness: Ronald L. Rice is the father of Ronald C. Rice -- so while Kean has dropped the Jr. suffix, Rice has basically picked it up.

State Senator Ronald Rice is reportedly considering a bid for Newark City Councilman-At-Large, a campaign that could pit him against his son, Ronald Rice, Jr., who is running for the City Council on a slate headed by mayoral candidate Cory Booker. These days, Rice is aligned with Sharpe James, whom he opposed when he gave up his West Ward Council seat to run for Mayor in 1998.

A rumor making the rounds over the last 48 hours is that former Newark Councilman Cory Booker is under consideration for an appointment to the United States Senate seat. Several Democratic insiders say the scenario makes sense: Jon Corzine makes history by appointing the state's first African American United States Senator -- a 36-year-old reformer and Rhodes Scholar -- and maybe helps Sharpe James avoid a rematch with Booker in the 2006 race for Mayor.