John McCain

Mayor Cory Booker, center, with Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, left, and jazz pianist Eric Lewis

NEWARK – On the city’s 21st anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, 72 hours before Obama’s presidential inaugural, Newarkers at Grace Episcopal Church rejoiced in a ceremony of blended Obama-MILK symbolism that apparently left no room or reason for last minute retaliatory elbows thrown at the outgoing Bush administration. 

In short, the most joyfully considered and relevant transition of power here was from King to Obama. 

“I’m a child of the 1960s. There are still a few of us around, right, Mildred?” said Gov. Jon Corzine, finding Council President Mildred Crump’s smiling face in the crowd. “King defined our aspirations, and what we could seek to find. When he was killed in Memphis he was talking about a living wage. We have a long way to go, but at this moment, when Barack Obama is sworn in, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream will become a reality. 

“God bless the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the presidency of Barack Obama,” added Corzine, and moments later, Crump cried, “That’s my governor,” as people in the crowd lurched to their feet.

State Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D-Cape May) is not on the ballot this year, giving Republicans hope that they can pickup two Assembly seats in the 1st district.

The best shot for the Republicans to pick up a State Assembly seat is in the first district, where incumbents Nelson Albano and Matthew Milam will need to defend their seats without the benefit of State Sen. Jeff Van Drew at the top of the ticket.  They won in 2007 as the popular Van Drew was ousting GOP incumbent Nicholas Asselta by twelve points.  Albano, swept into office as Van Drew's running mate in 2005, won comfortably; Milam beat Republican Michael Donohue by 2,020 votes.  This is the first time in history that Cape May County is represented by all Democratic legislators.

Milam won't be helped by his admission that he parked in a handicapped spot last October.  The freshman Assemblyman initially sought a trial, alleging that the spot was not clearly marked.  This is not the most egregious offense for a New Jersey legislator in recent years, but it could make a decent mailer and cable TV ad.  Donohue is reportedly interested in running again.

District 1 may be among the most politically competitive in the state, although it has clearly trended Democratic over the last three years.  George W. Bush carried the district over John Kerry by 4,792 votes, and Barack Obama beat John McCain by 5,095.  Jon Corzine beat Doug Forrester by 2,984 in the 2005 gubernatorial race, and Tom Kean, Jr. defeated Robert Menendez for U.S. Senate in 2006 by 3,439.  All three of those races were about 53%-47%.

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Port Authority Police Superintendent Samuel Plumeri has won key support to become New Jersey's next U.S. Marshal

Samuel Plumeri, a former Mercer County Sheriff and Democratic County Chairman, is emerging as a leading candidate for U.S. Marshal, according to Democratic sources.  The current Marshal, James Plousis, a Republican and former Cape May County Sheriff, is expected to resign by Janaury 20, 2009, so that Barack Obama can nominate his own candidate, with the advise and consent of New Jersey's two U.S. Senators.  Sources say that Plumeri has the backing of Gov. Jon Corzine, and U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, though uncommitted, reportedly has no problems with Plumeri.  The state's other U.S. Senator, Robert Menendez, has not yet indicated a choice.

The 61-year-old Plumeri has served as Director of Public Safety and Superintendent of Police for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  He joined the Port Authority as New Jersey Director of Government and Community Affairs in 2002 after narrowly losing a bid for State Senator to GOP incumbent Peter Inverso in 2001. 

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Former Gov. Tom Kean at a GOP rally earlier this year with John McCain and Joe Lieberman

Former Gov. Tom Kean will not comment on whether he’s been asked about or vetted for a cabinet position in the Obama Administration. But don’t read anything into that.

“I don’t comment on those things. I can’t,” said Kean, a Republican whose name surfaced in media reports both as a potential pick for Secretary of Education and for Department of Homeland Security Secretary (which is likely to go to Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano).

Being vetted for a cabinet position is a tricky situation. If the administration has talked to you, you’re not supposed to comment on it, and it’s better to err on the side of caution and not say even if you have not been contacted about it.

“It’s an elaborate dance,” he said.

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U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Joseph Lieberman (ID-Conn.)

Both of New Jersey's Democratic Senators voted to keep Joe Lieberman as Chairman of the Senator Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Lieberman, an Independent Democrat who backed John McCain for President, held his post by a 42-13 vote, with Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez voting in the majority.

Assembly Minority Whip Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), left, campaigns last year in Atlantic County with Assemblyman John Amodeo (R-Margate) and Assemblyman Vince Polistina (R-Egg Harbor).

Raging moderate state Sen. Leonard Lance’s (R-Hunterdon) victory should serve as a lesson to every downtrodden member of the GOP as the party tries to shake off tough losses from the Nov. 4th election, argues Assembly Minority Whip Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield). 

The pro-choice Republican believes his party gets into trouble when it tries to use the chambers of government to lecture taxpayers about how to behave in their personal lives. 

“The minute you preach morality, you’re done,” Bramnick said. “That sold after Monica Lewinsky, but frankly, I’m offended by it.” 

Bramnick, who’s flirted with going statewide in recent years and emerged as an early favorite to pursue the 7th District Congressional seat Lance just won before standing down, said regardless of the national party's strategies, Republicans in New Jersey shouldn’t run on family values.  

State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Montville) says that Republicans find themselves with "no message, no money and no direction" going into the 2009 gubernatorial election.

After reading newspaper accounts of New Jersey Republican leaders downplaying the seriousness of John McCain’s loss in New Jersey, the loss of a Congressional seat and the loss of Senate candidate Dick Zimmer to “an octogenarian who barely put up a fight,” Pennacchio says he had to take exception with a public statement.

“If our party publicly expressed satisfaction with New Jersey and National Republican results in Tuesday’s election, all they were doing was  reinforcing rank and file Republican cynicism for our party’s leadership,” he said.  “Once again Republicans find themselves with no message, no money and no direction going into next year’s gubernatorial election.  To say our Republicans 'Ship of State' was run aground by our captain, would imply that it had a direction.  That simply was not so.”

In battleground Monmouth County, where Democrats hoped to dropkick Republicans from the top down, it didn’t happen.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) defeated Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.) here by 51.26 percent to 47.39 percent, or 159,461 to 147,424 votes. While losing statewide, GOP U.S. Senate candidate Dick Zimmer defeated U.S.  Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) in Monmouth by a 51.95 percent 45.59 percent.

Rivals: School Board President Vincent Capuana, left, and Acting Mayor/Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic)

PASSAIC – Opposing forces converge on School No. 3 in the Third Ward, the local political base of Acting Mayor/Assemblyman Gary Schaer.

Schaer and his ally, mayoral candidate Dr. Alex Blanco, greet people in front of the school as they head in to vote.

A car door slams and a slender man jumps the curb.

It’s School Board President Vincent Capuana, one of Blanco’s rivals in the mayors’ contest.

“We’ve been here in Gary’s base since this morning,” confides one of Capuana’s backers. “He moves, we move.”

With absentee ballots counted in eight of Bergen County's seventy municipalities, Barack Obama leads John McCain 54%-46% -- 1,118 to 956.  Four years ago, George W. Bush carried these same towns (Allendale, Alpine, Bergenfield, Bogota, Edgewater, South Hackensack, Woodridge and Wyckoff) by a 51%-49% margin over John Kerry.  

In the race for Congress in the 5th district, where absentee ballots in only Allendale, Alpine, Bergenfield, and Wyckoff have been counted, incumbent Scott Garrett leads Dennis Shulman by a 52%-48% margin -- 591 to 549.  In 2004, Garrett carried these four towns by a 55%-45% margin.

Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan leads challenger Diane Testa by a 63%-37% margin on absentee ballots in these eight towns, while Democratic U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg leads Republican Dick Zimmer by a 53%-47% margin on absentee ballots.  That puts Donovan, a Republican, 17 points ahead of McCain and 16 points ahead of Zimmer.