Feb. 5 primary

February 3, 2008 - 11:15pm

Another year when New Jersey mattered in prez politics

In 1984, Democrats didn't have a nominee until after the June primaries: Getty Images PhotoIn 1984, Democrats didn't have a nominee until after the June primaries: Getty Images PhotoWith one more full day before New Jersey’s Democratic Party primary, neither candidate has melted down into the 1984 version of presidential hopeful Sen. Gary Hart, who was leading by double digits in the Garden State when he committed an irrecoverable gaffe.

Speaking about his and his wife’s coastal campaign duties at a fund-raiser in Los Angeles 24 years ago, Hart told an audience that Lee Hart got to campaign in California while he was stuck with, punch line coming up... New Jersey.

According to campaign consultant Robert Shrum, who writes about the incident in his book, "No Excuses," Hart then answered his wife’s cuddly California anecdote about getting to hold a koala bear, by prompting belly laughs from the L.A. crowd with this rejoinder: "I won’t tell you what I got to hold - samples from a toxic waste dump."

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February 3, 2008 - 1:15pm

A sign-posting Saturday in Newark

Barack Obama supporter Isaac was part of a team on Saturday that posted "Obama" signs all up and down Broad Street in the Central Ward.

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