Donald Norcross

Dana Redd's victory in the Camden mayoral race was as easy as everyone expected, which means Democrats will need to fill her fifth district State Senate seat.  Possible candidates include Assemblymen-elect Donald Norcross and Angel Fuentes, outgoing Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, Camden City Councilwoman Dana Burley, and Camden City Councilman Whip Wilson.  Redd will need to step down no later than January 1, when she takes office as mayor; a special election convention would be held 7-35 days after her resignation.  If it's Norcross or Fuentes, a second special election convention would need to be held to fill their Assembly seats.

CHERRY HILL - "Machine, what machine?" deadpans retiring Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden), shuffling into Camden County Democratic Committee headquarters amid hundreds of bodies pushing toward the back door and the rally under a blue sky.

"There is no such thing as a machine."

Camden County Democratic Party leader George Norcross III is in the crowd, but his younger brother, Donald, is running the program.

President of the Southern New Jersey AFL-CIO Central Labor Council and assistant business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 351, Donald Norcross is also a candidate for the Assembly in the 5th District.

The union men and women on the pavement cheer heartily when Building and Trades chief Bill Mullen pays his respects to the labor leader who helped elect almost 200 union people since he took over the Southern Labor Council.

Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford), left, and Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden)

CHERRY HILL - Wearing a green ironworkers local t-shirt, state Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) says he's been here before, and so he speaks with first-hand knowledge when he says the labor vote makes the difference in close elections down here.

"In my senate race, my internals showed me down by two and I won by three - and it's because of this," says Sweeney, on his way into the packed Camden County Democratic Committee headquarters where the workers are pressing through the front doors, then the back, spilling into the rear parking lot for their massive morning GOTV rally.

"There is more of a commitment than ever from organized labor for this election," Sweeney says. "Chris Christie has made it easy for us. He drew as deep a line as you can draw and people are eager to defeat him."

The majority leader, who is poised with senate reorganization to become the senate president, said at least 1,000 workers will attend the rally, then jump on GOTV vans that will cruise to targeted locations throughout South Jersey on behalf of Gov. Jon Corzine and  his allies.

"This is something the Republicans don't have," he says. "A ground game."

Sweeney confirms that he had a sit-down meeting last week with his rival for the senate presidency, Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland), but denied that Codey told him he was conceding their leadership contest.

Corzine attends rally in Cherry Hill this morning.

CHERRY HILL - Gov. Jon Corzine jumps onto a stage in front of hundreds of union workers in the parking lot behind Camden County Democratic Party headquarters.

"You must send a message that the labor movement is alive and well," Corzine yells. "Let's win tonight. We are ten hours and ten minutes away. If we get out the vote, we win this election. I ain't gonna lay off 10,000-20,000 public employees. We're gonna build power plants and get our union brothers back to work. The only thing that counts is bottom up."

The speech is shouted out to the throng of men and women stretched out in front of the stage.

"We're gonna win this because of you," yells Corzine to a roar of approval before falling into the embrace of Donald Norcross, the man who helped build this vaunted South Jersey labor organization.

Donald Norcross was endorsed for State Assembly by the Courier-Post.

The Courier-Post today endorsed South Jersey AFL-CIO President Donald Norcross for State Assembly in the fifth district, saying that Norcross is well versed on state issues and "would be able to hit the ground running in Trenton" even though he'll be a freshman. 

The Courier-Post also endorsed Norcross' running mate, Camden City Council President Angel Fuentes.  The two are seeking to replace Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) and Assemblywoman Nilsa Cruz-Perez (D-Camden).  Neither are seeking re-election.

But the Gloucester County Times declined to back Norcross, instead supporting Fuentes and Republican Stepfanie Velez-Gentry, who has attracted national attention because she owns a company that sells sex toys to women

Norcross, the Camden County Democratic Co-Chairman and the brother of Democratic leader George Norcross, set a record this month for the single biggest fundraising event for a first-time candidate: he raised a reported $350,000. 

"Norcross has been a union leader, yet he understands that things cannot be the same for future government workers as they have been and are for current ones in terms of pay and benefits. He sees that Trenton can't afford to keep handing out fat pensions and loads of other expensive benefits and remain solvent," the editorial said.  "While Norcross and Fuentes likely won't be as independent from party-line politics as we'd like, in this race, they're clearly the best choices."

Norcross, according to the Courier-Post, would not deny that he'll quickly move up to the Senate after State Sen. Dana Redd (D-Camden) wins her race for Mayor of Camden.

In his first major fundraising event since becoming a candidate for an open State Assembly seat, South Jersey AFL-CIO President Donald Norcross raised a reported $350,000 tonight at an event held at the Battleship New Jersey Museum in Camden.  It's possible - and likely - that Norcross set a record for the single biggest haul for any first-time candidate in a single event, and now gives him the single largest war chest of any Assembly candidate.

This year's Most Interesting Job for an Assembly Candidate Award goes to District 5 Republican Stepfanie Velez-Gentry, who runs a business specializing in... well, what amounts to naughty Tupper Ware parties.

Velez-Gentry, who's running against South Jersey power broker George Norcross's brother, Donald Norcross, runs Nookie Parties LLC, which organizes "adult romance parties for women & couples." 

Velez-Gentry's company, which she founded in 2007, sells sex toys, lingerie, games and other erotic knickknacks at customers' home parties.  The company's Web site lists dozens of representatives all over the country, and features pictures of Velez-Gentry modeling a couple of her products.

Velez-Gentry said that her company has helped save marriages and that "when the moms and dads are happy, the whole family is happy."  

Secretary of the Senate Ellen Davenport (D-Maplewood), a political ally of Senate President Richard Codey

On the most likely to be unemployed list for 2010: Secretary of the Senate Ellen Davenport.  With the likelihood that Richard Codey (D-Roseland) will not return as Senate President, it look like Davenport, a close Codey ally who served as Mayor of Maplewood and as an Essex County Freeholder, will be a casualty of Codey's leadership fight with Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford).  The job pays $81,000-a-year, and the post traditionally changes along with the leadership.  Davenport, 67, got the job after Democrats won control of the Senate in 2003.

The Assembly Clerk is Dana Burley, a 44-year-old Camden City Councilwoman.  The retirement of her political patron, Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden), puts her at some risk.  But unlike the Senate, there is no real change of control in the lower house.  If Essex Democrats claim the $90,000-a-year position (as Camden did when Roberts succeeded Albio Sires in 2006 and named Burley), Burley won't have a problem finding a new gig; South Jersey Democrats are ruling the world these days, and Burley is a member of that organization.

LD 5 Assembly candidate Donald Norcross

PAULSBORO - Labor leader Donald Norcross, the brother of South Jersey Democratic Party leader George Norcross III and a candidate for the Assembly in District 5, wouldn't comment on speculation that he is poised to assume state Sen. Dana Redd's (D-Camden) Senate seat if she wins her mayor's race on Nov. 3rd, where she's heavily favored.

"My entire focus is on the governor's race," said Norcross, who announced his candidacy for the Assembly the day that Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden) formally declared his retirement from the legislature and his decision not to run for re-election this year.

"Joe's decision was made independent of (the Camden mayor's race," Norcross insisted. "The only thing we are focused on is getting this governor elected. We will have a mass mobilization on his behalf - over 1,000 people in the street."