DNCC

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) with mother and daughter constituents visiting Denver: Aisha, left, and Valerie.: Politicker photo 

DENVER - The Democratic Party had been splintered all week, and the test of the convention would be whether on the last day Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) resolved the contradictions and moved everyone forward.

The factions were not imagined, or at least one piece of the delegation claiming the loyalties of 18 million voters was hesitant about the presumptive nominee. For New Jerseyans, that faction had particular force. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) had beaten Obama by almost ten points in New Jersey and her fundraisers had hauled in millions form New Jersey supporters.

Some Monday night drama hinged on Michelle Obama’s shot to prove she loves her children and understands the Middle American concept of family.

"I cried until I couldn’t applaud anymore," Newark Councilwoman Mildred Crump said of Obama’s speech.

However, warm and fuzzy testimonials were already starting to rile the Rev. Reginald Jackson of Orange. Yes, he’d been a solid Clinton backer during the primary, "but we need to deal with the Bushes and we’ve got to define McCain."

Gov. Jon Corzine at the convention.: Politicker photo 

DENVER - The clash of speaking styles could not have been more dramatic.

There was U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), consigning Karl Rove to the most fiery furnaces of Dante’s Inferno, and putting extra incisors in the teeth of the party attack dog on the tail end of a Thursday breakfast in which half the crowd had appeared asleep before Pascrell arrived and roused them.

Then came Gov. Jon Corzine, and one could almost imagine the house lights again going way down as he began his morning remarks.

On the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s "I Have a Dream" speech, the governor went to that oratorical touchstone to refer back to something even earlier, which King had also invoked in his 1963 speech: the words "All men are created equal" in the Declaration of Independence.

"We now have an opportunity as a nation and as a human race to make that real," Corzine told the crowd. "We will be as hard as Joe Biden’s mother told him to be, but we shouldn’t lose track of the fact that there is a vision for a better world."

It was a quintessential Corzine statement, delivered in the most self-effacing Midwestern tones. Every time he slid a Jersey edge into his rhetoric, as when he roared moments later that Democrats are in the hardest fight of their lives and have one hell of a chance, he still carried the thought to a idealistic conclusion.

Gov. Jon Corzine at the convention.: Politicker photo 

DENVER - As he partied the night away at a downtown bar following Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) acceptance speech and the end of the Democratic National Convention, Gov. Jon. Corzine radiated happiness to everyone around him.

"I feel like a kid again," said a tie-less, beaming Corzine, inviting guests in to his celebration.

Energetic all week, getting up at 5 in the morning Rocky Mountain time for interviews, and all day networking, fundraising, speech-making and morale -boosting, the governor appeared more dynamic with each passing day, culminating with his appearance at this event.

The conflict-resolution New Jersey storyline of this convention involved whether or not the delegation could harness the undercurrent of hurt and anger among Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) holdouts and channel it to Obama.

By Thursday afternoon, after a week of parties and politics, most of the members of the delegation appeared to be significantly slowed. People’s answers to questions about speeches usually contained references to feelings of being tired.

Check back next week to view my Convention Sketchpads from the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis.

Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for President in Denver on Thursday: Getty Images Photo

• On eve of Obama speech, Menendez cuts up Irish lullaby
• Bollwage says McCain can't win Elizabeth
• Pallone warmly introduces Andrews
• Cunningham still mum on mayoral prospects
• Congressman says Karl Rove is going to hell
• Pallone: Obama's an opportunity to build party's future
• Gay rights advocates lobby for gay marriage
• Get ready to go Old Testament, Florio tells Dems
• On morning of big speech, Obama mentor makes his pitch to Jersey
• Andrews to address his future next week

DENVER -- Former Assembly candidate Cid Wilson, who ran and aborted a primary campaign against District 37 Assembly members Gordon Johnson and Valerie Vainieri-Huttle, said today that he may run again.

“The answer is that I’m exploring all my options, and I very much believe that regardless of what I decide to do, I’m going to be an active leader in Bergen County, because I’ve always cared about the issues affecting Bergen County,” he said.  “I’m giving it a very strong look, and I am leaning towards running.”

Jersey City Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis met one of his idols tonight.    

Among the familiar faces milling about the crowd in the Massachusetts delegation, seated just behind New Jersey, was a former presidential candidate and Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, who almost exactly 20 years ago took the podium himself.

Matsikoudis greeted him in Greek. 

“It was the first election that really grabbed me and got me hooked on politics.  I was inspired for a couple reasons – one it was the first time I paid attention to the issues, and I just found him to be on the smart side of the issues,” said Matsikoudis, 37.  “And of course as a Greek American, I was also moved by his candidacy.”

So Bon Jovi didn’t open for Barack Obama. Bruce Springsteen didn’t cap it off. The delegates didn’t exactly have prime seats. But for all the lack of recognition New Jersey’s delegates felt at this week’s convention, those interviewed by PolitickerNJ tonight felt that Obama was speaking directly to them.

There were so many tears on Mile High Stadium’s temporary floor that it was practically a slipping hazard.

U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman, who was arguably the face of Obama’s New Jersey campaign, said the speech was outstanding.

“He presented a clear and eloquent case for why this country so desperately needs change and why he is supremely capable by his experience, his judgment and his temperament to lead this country to a new day,” he said.

Through the window of Johnny Rockets in Denver, Gov. Jon Corzine can be seen getting down to “Staying Alive” on Wednesday night.

United States Rep. Frank Pallone, who was one of Rep. Rob Andrews’s harshest critics during his primary run, today introduced him at the Democratic delegation’s breakfast today as the “great congressman from South Jersey.”

Pallone said that he appreciated the way Andrews handled the aftermath of the primary against Frank Lautenberg, reaching out to mend relations as soon as the primary was over.