Hillary Clinton

A former leading fund-raiser for Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) has joined Barack Obama’s (D-Il) National Finance Committee and committed to playing what he describes as a "significant fund-raising role for (Obama’s) campaign both here in New Jersey and across the country."

Michael Kempner, one of Clinton’s national finance co-chairs during her failed presidential bid and a member of "The Group," today plans to send a letter to friends and fellow Democrats indicating his support for Obama, and welcoming them to join him in the general election campaign against presumptive GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (D-AZ).

"After meeting on several occasions with Hillary and Senator Obama over the past few weeks, I have come to the conclusion that we must elect Senator Obama as our next President," Kempner wrote in a draft letter he shared with PolitickerNJ.com.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, backing up Senate President Richard Codey's endorsement of Obama.

Obama Campaign State Director Mark Alexander knew it would be hard to pry Sen. Hillary Clinton’s supporters loose in New Jersey after her victory in New Hampshire.

This was a fight now, and Clinton’s people were solid.

"We have an opportunity here in Hudson - Hudson, Hispanics, Hillary and history," Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) cried to a North Bergen audience of mostly Latinos with Clinton on stage.

The response was near to deafening with Clinton standing on stage with Menendez, U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-13) and state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex).

But that didn’t mean there weren’t other opportunities for Obama; in fact, one big opportunity, in the form of Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex), who was at the moment glumly serving as state director for the foundering campaign of John Edwards.

Alexander knew Codey. He also knew Codey was close to former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ), who had come onto the Obama campaign as an advisor.

Obama Campaign State Director Mark Alexander. 

The campaign was about to change.

On Oct, 9, 2007, an announcement came down from Chicago regarding New Jersey operations. 

Mark Alexander, a Seton Hall University law professor and Obama’s senior policy advisor, would be the campaign’s official state director.

"I am grateful that he is going to carry the fight forward to and through the Feb. 5 contests," Obama said of Alexander. "He is a valued and trusted advisor, and at the same time has deep ties in his home of New Jersey that will be invaluable to our efforts. 

"I am proud of the policy work we have done on this campaign and through Mark’s leadership we have built a team of key advisors from the ground up that will continue to offer new and innovative approaches to the challenges this country faces," added the presidential candidate.

A personal friend of Barack and Michelle Obama’s going back a dozen years, Alexander as a child worked on the 1974 Washington, D.C. mayoral campaign of his father, Clifford Alexander, former chairman of the Equal Opportunity Commission. Later, he ran Sen. Bill Bradley’s 2000 presidential campaign and served as counsel to Cory Booker.

It’s difficult to find a Clinton supporter who was as stout during theJohn F.X. Graham primary as New Jersey fund-raiser John F.X. Graham, who took his presidential candidate’s loss especially hard.

One of the key members of "the Group" - a conglomerate of Hillary Clinton champions with deep pockets and access to donors with even deeper ones - Graham found it particularly tough to stand at attention within the ranks of Obama backers when the Clinton campaign finally raised the white flag.

In an interview with PolitickerNJ.com two weeks ago, the fund-raiser in fact cringed at the idea of making an easy transition to the team of Clinton’s conqueror.

What did Hillary Clinton say to Barack Obama to cause him to react in such a concerned way?

And why is Bill Clinton there looking for the fist bump?

Click here to view the winner and runner-ups from this week's cartoon caption contest.

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8), right, with U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) today in Paterson. 

PATERSON - U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8) didn't hesitate today when asked whom he would like to see presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois choose as his running mate.

"Senator (Jim) Webb, from Virginia," Pascrell told PolitickerNJ.com at a press conference on gas prices in Paterson, which he attended with senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez and Paterson Mayor Jose "Joey" Torres.

"He'd be a great vice president, and you'd always know where he stands," Pascrell said of the freshman Virginia senator, and Vietnam veteran who once boxed Ollver North to earn a controversial loss when the two were in the Marine Corps.

Care to come up with a caption for this cartoon? Click more for the rules and prizes!

The strategy of going after Sen. Hillary Clinton on her proposal to suspend the gas tax proved useful for Sen. Barack Obama, as he weakened his Democratic Primary rival’s standing in Indiana while deriding as gimmickry her call for a gas tax suspension.

With Clinton out of the way now, Obama’s most senior original ally in New Jersey, U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9), denounced presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain's position on the gas tax, which mirrors Clinton’s.

On stage Friday at a town hall meeting in Pemberton, McCain summoned applause from the crowd for Clinton, noting how she ran a good race.

Meanwhile, in a conference call with reporters, Rothman targeted the Arizonan on what had been an important primary issue. 

Barack Obama campaigns for Bob Menendez in the 2006 U.S. Senate race: Getty Images Photo
During the primary season, Sen. Bob Menendez’s name circulated as a possible vice presidential pick for Sen. Hillary Clinton.

With Clinton now out of the race and Menendez doing his best jockeying on her behalf to get her on the ticket as Barack Obama’s running mate, the New Jersey senator fielded a question Thursday regarding his filling the role himself as backup to the party’s leading man.

Is he interested? Is he on any Obama short list or has anyone from the campaign approached him?

Somerset County Democratic Chair Peg Schaffer, right, with Montgomery Mayor Cecilia Birge, one of her freeholder candidates. 

Charged up by the presidential race, Democrats believe they can storm GOP freeholder strongholds in at least three counties this year: Somerset, Burlington and Monmouth.

While the Democratic Party has chopped away in sections at county freeholder seats in Monmouth and now is one win away from obtaining a majority, Somerset and Burlington remain elusive Republican bulwarks for the Democrats, who see Monmouth as a model.

The election this week of a new Democratic Party chair in Somerset brought forth fighting words from those party members long schooled in living under Republican rule, and prompted the obligatory GOP reply that for all the updates on Democratic Party registration, the county remains red.