John Graham

John F.X. GrahamIt looked like the second coming of Edmund Muskie in New Hampshire as an emotionally glistening-eyed Sen. Hillary Clinton experienced what John Graham said was a "minor meltdown" Monday on her way into the New Hampshire primary.

But in what a redeemed and jubilant Graham a day later called "the greatest comeback in American primary history," Clinton beat Sen. Barack Obama by two percentage points.

"She was down by double digits and written off," said the New Jersey Clinton fund-raising co-chair who stormed New Hampshire over the weekend with a contingent of New Jerseyans that included U.S. representatives Frank Pallone and Bill Pascrell Jr.

At the end of his efforts, Graham was for 48 hours left exhausted and morose over Clinton’s prospects for victory only to rebound in euphoria with the presidential candidate on Tuesday night.

Hillary Clinton's supporters have a dream. They see current Iowa frontrunner Barack Obama limping into a shocking third place finish in the Jan. 3rd caucus and then standing before a crowd of youthful campaign volunteers with a hand-held microphone. 

U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman says that he's endorsing Barack Obama for a simple reason: he thinks he's the best candidate with the best shot of beating a Republican in the general election.

"I think he is an authentic agent for change, but not only that - he brings to that his extraordinary life experience, his brilliance, his vast history and his years as a community organizer as a legislator on both the state and federal level," said Rothman. But there's another important aspect to the endorsement: it makes Rothman unique.

Out of the five New Jersey Democratic congressmen who have endorsed a presidential candidate, four have gone for Clinton. Three of those four - Frank Pallone, Rob Andrews and Bill Pascrell - are, like Rothman, hopefuls to succeed 83-year-old Senator Frank Lautenberg in the unlikely event that he chooses not to seek another term. Or, for that matter, if Lautenberg wins another term and leaves office part way through it.

Michelle Obama speaks to voters in New Hampshire
MANCHESTER, NH - Compared to Jersey, it’s edge of the world country.

Snow-capped Monadnock in the distance between Manchester and Keene sends a wordless message that the human hurly burly is but a small piece of the action. A headline in the Union-Leader tells of a hunter who’s still lost after several days and the sense is this is commonplace in New Hampshire. Human star power that blows through on the way to the presidency has nothing on the constancy of the hills, and the mountain.

Today the student center crawls with Secret Service personnel at Keene College, where kids bundled into backpacks and ballcaps trudge from edifice to noble edifice in the dreadful cold.

The students prepare to hear from Michelle Obama, the 43-year old wife of the presidential candidate, who’s leading in Iowa over Sen. Hillary Clinton by a four-point margin, and trailing her by six points in New Hampshire, according to Washington Post/ABC News polls. When Bill Clinton ran for president in 1991, he wore out his voice calling for change. Now he’s the institutional old sage and his wife is the political insider, while Obama the upstart calls for change, and his wife amplifies the message.

A group of Democratic power fundraisers have committed to raising “at least $1 million” for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign at a December 12 event at the State Theater in New Brunswick. More than 75 party fundraisers met last week at the MWW offices in East Rutherford for a meeting sponsored by “The Group” – the unofficial name for John Graham, Michael Kempner, Alfred DeCotiis,William Harla, Rev. Reginald Jackson, and Mayor Meryl Frank, who are the leaders of Clinton’s New Jersey finance operation. Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan attended the meeting.

Assemblywoman Linda Stender, who came within one percentage point of ousting Republican Congressman Michael Ferguson in 2006, has lined up two key fundraisers to help her in next year’s rematch.  John F. X. Graham, who is Hillary Clinton’s New Jersey finance chairman and played the same role for John Kerry four years ago, will serve as Co-Chair of Stender’s ’08 Finance Committee, along with Highland Park Mayor Meryl Frank.  State Senator Raymond Lesniak has agreed to serve as Honorary Chairman.  Stender raised $239,000 for her federal campaign between June and September of this year.

More than 200 people attended a Hillary Clinton for President fundraiser last night at the home of MWW President/CEO Michael Kempner that raised a reported $250,000. John Graham, Alfred DeCotiis, and Bill Harla also played a role in the event. Clinton also raised a reported $140,000 at Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop's fundraiser.

Did Hillary Clinton cancel a public event in Hudson County today because she doesn’t want to take sides in a fledgling Democratic congressional primary next year?

Clinton was scheduled to hold a rally in the shadows of the towers that make up the Newport development in Jersey City, but citing scheduling conflicts, the Clinton campaign called off the public event. She will still attend a $1,000-a-head fundraiser this afternoon sponsored by Jersey City Councilman Steven Fulop, who might challenge Rep. Albio Sires in the June 2008 Democratic primary.

The Hillary Clinton camp says Clinton’s quick, detail-oriented response during a CNN debate last week shows she’s ready to lead in a crisis.

"It’s experience here," said John Graham, one of the chief fund-raisers for the Clinton for President Campaign in New Jersey, which will welcome their candidate to two private events on Monday - one in Jersey City and one in Cresskill, in which they hope to raise around $200,000.

A New Jersey fundraising event for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, set for June 18, is expected to meet their commitment of $1 million, according to John F.X. Graham, one of Clinton's key Jersey fundraisers. Graham said the New Jersey Finance Committee made a hard commitment of $1 million.