DNCC

DENVER -- No matter how Democrats handle the roll call vote question, Hillary Clinton’s former New Jersey campaign director says she knows who she’s voting for.

“I’m voting for Senator Obama on the first ballot,” said Karen Kominsky, who headed up Clinton’s successful New Jersey primary campaign.

Kominsky has actually been volunteering for Obama for the last several months. She even ran a door-to-door Obama operation from her house in Lambertville.

Jeff Van Drew insists he won’t be a late entrant into the second district House race against Republican U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, a district where Democrats think Joe Biden’s presence at the top of the ticket could help a congressional candidate in Cape May, Cumberland, and Salem counties – where some residents watch Delaware TV.  

DENVER -- Assemblywoman Joan Quigley (D-Jersey City) is candid about her feelings on the upcoming Jersey City mayoral race.

She’s with Mayor Jerramiah Healy. Not that it’s unusual, considering he’s chairman of the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO). She wasn’t in 2004, however, when he ran to replace the late Glen Cunningham.

“He was a dark horse at that point and I didn’t know him well,” she said. And while his status as the head of the powerful Democratic organization could certainly win him friends, Quigley said that’s not the reason.

“I learned to like him a lot better before that happened.”

There is no shortage of second and third generations of American political families addressing delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week: Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy; James Roosevelt, Jr., the grandson of President Franklin D. Roosevelt; U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), the son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988; U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), the daughter of former New Orleans Mayor/U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Moon Landrieu; U.S. Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA), the son of former Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey; Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, the daughter of former Ohio Gov. John Gilligan; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the daughter of former Baltimore Mayor/U.S. Rep. Thomas D’Alesandro; Iowa Gov. Chet Culver, the son of former U.S. Sen. John Culver (D-IA); New York Gov. David Paterson, the son of former New York Secretary of State Basil Paterson; and Cecile Richards, the daughter of former Texas Governor Anne Richards.

DENVER -- State Sen. Bob Gordon (D-Fair Lawn) said he can’t comment on the timing of the FBI’s raid on Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero’s law offices just last week, but after emerging from watching Sen. Bob Menendez speaking at this morning’s delegate breakfast, he couldn’t help but draw a parallel.

“We just listened to Bob Menendez and I was reminded of the U.S. Attorney’s office filing subpoenas and investigating him a matter of weeks before his election,” he said.

Ferriero is in town for the convention, but it’s hard to find him. He’s been laying low, appearing at few public events, although he did show up at the delegation’s downtown party last night.

Gordon actually owes his ascendance from the Assembly to the Senate in part to both U.S. Attorney Chris Christie and Ferriero. If Christie hadn’t investigated former State Sen. Joe Coniglio, which ultimately resulted in an indictment, Coniglio wouldn’t have been pressured to resign his seat. And it was Ferriero whose endorsement virtually assured that Gordon would replace Coniglio.

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, won't speak at the convention: Getty Images Photo
DENVER -- Senator Bob Menendez will not speak at the Pepsi Center during the Democratic National Convention, despite the lobbying by fellow influential New Jersey politicians on his behalf.

Menendez was the New Jersey’s delegation’s hope to place one of their own in the spotlight. Politicians were banking on his Latino appeal.

When asked by reporters whether he felt snubbed, Menendez responded said that he didn’t.

“The bottom line is, look, different conventions, different people speak. Speaking is not important. Winning is important.”

There is some chatter among Passaic County Democrats attending the Democratic National Convention in Denver that veteran State Sen. John Girgenti could be in his last term.  Girgenti, a legislator since 1977, is the last white male to represent a district where minority voters represent the majority of the district.  Two years ago, Assemblywoman Nellie Pou went as far as to present her name to the Passaic Democratic screening committee as a Senate candidate, but Girgenti—rather easily – secured party support for another term.  Pou, by the way, says she’s not interested in challenging the popular Girgenti in 2011. 

DENVER - Third Congressional District candidates state Sen. John Adler (D-Camden) and Medford Mayor Chris Myers are scheduled to debate on Wednesday, Sept. 10, in a contest sponsored by Veterans for Education, a student organization consisting of military veterans enrolled at Rutgers-Camden.

The free event will be held at Rancocas Valley Regional High School. Anthony Mazzarelli, an on-air personality at 1210 WPHT-AM, will moderate, according to a release issued by Rutgers-Camden.

One of the first - if not the first - elected official to support Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.) for president, Adler is in Denver with the New Jersey delegation.

If you care: with Gov. Jon Corzine, Senate President Richard Codey and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts in Denver attending the Democratic National Convention this week, Anne Milgram is manning the ship at home.  The Attorney General, fourth in the line of gubernatorial succession, is serving as Acting Governor.

Frank Lautenberg made the White House Enemies List when he backed George McGovern for President in 1972
DENVER - A glance at the 1972 Democratic National Convention might put things in perspective for those Democrats who think the party is irreconcilably divided between Camp Hillary and Obamaland.

After liberal Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota won his party’s nomination for president that year, primary loser Alabama Gov. George Wallace refused to support him, taking southern segregationists on an embittered exodus out of the party.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) remembers that convention, and he recalls firmly backing McGovern.

"My support for McGovern earned me a spot on Richard Nixon’s enemies list," Lautenberg told PolitickerNJ.com.