Not yet a done deal, Middlesex County Freeholder Mildred Scott is expected to announce her candidacy for sheriff in the wake of this morning's news that veteran Sheirff Joe Spicuzzo will retire at the end of this year - a natural choice, say party insiders.

First elected in 2008, Scott is the first African-American freeholder in the history of the county and chair of the law and public safety committee. She has over three decades of experience in the sheriff's office.

Raised in Perth Amboy, the Piscataway resident was the first woman to serve as chief sheriff officer (from 1991-1995).

Party sources said the expectation of Scott as Spicuzzo's successor has created positive early vibes in some quarters because of her ground-level experience in law enforcement. 

NEWARK - Two politicians - one Democrat and one Republican - swaying among the crowd and soaking up the live Sinatra re-enactment of "Summer Wind" agree that the highpoint from Trenton this afternoon was Gov. Chris Christie's bipartisan reach-out to Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange).

"I think it showed a political horse sense that's been lacking in governors of recent vintage," said state Sen. Michael Doherty (R-Washington Twp.), present with his wife, Linda.

"A stroke of brilliance," agreed Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac, a Democrat and member of Christie's transition team.

The morbid reality for New Jersey Democrats is that Christopher Christie would appoint a Republican to the United States Senate if Frank Lautenberg, who turns 86 next month, dies in office.  That has caused a very real push by Democrats to change the state law before Jon Corzine leaves office.  But Democratic sources say that legislation introduced yesterday by Assemblyman John McKeon (D-West Orange) that would require a governor to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy by a member of the political party is not the way they will go; Christie could appoint a friendly Democrat to the Senate - Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac or former Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra, just as an example.  Instead, Democrats want to have a little more control. 

The most popular plan is the one used in Wyoming, where the state party organization of the party that holds the Senate seat submits three names to the Governor, who is obligated to pick from that list.  That's actually consistent with the way New Jersey fills vacancies for some other public offices.

ATLANTIC CITY - The members of Christie's transition team will break into specified groups tomorrow, according to team facilitator and counsel Brian Nelson of Shrewsbury.

"We're going to have a smaller number of groups to examine the issues than Gov. Corzine had four years ago," Nelson told PolitickerNJ.com. 

Proving Gov. Jon Corzine's loss in his hometown doesn't diminish his standing with defeated Democratic governors, Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac huddled in a tight-knit circle of party stalwarts that included former Gov. Jim Florio here in the Atlantic City Convention Center at the 94th annual League of Muncipalities Conference.

Corzine suffered a bellweather gut-wrencher in Woodbridge two weeks ago, ultimately going down to Gov.-elect Chris Christie, 11,475 to 9,391.

Christie surfaced in Woodbridge two days later and triumphantly pounded pavement with the Democratic mayor.

Then McCormac surfaced a few days after that as a member of Christie's transition team.

McCormac, state treasurer in the administration of Gov. Richard Codey, will have a transition role in economic development.

Governor-elect Christopher Christie and outgoing Gov. Jon Corzine have come to a simple agreement when it comes to major appointments and policy decisions in lame duck: if Corzine wants to do something, he'll fill Christie in.

"The understanding that the Governor and I came to was we would be talking to each other about it.  There was no agreement that we made that either certain appointments, or any appoints, would or would not go forward," said Christie at a press conference today in the Meadowlands.  "He's the governor until January 19.  I'm going to certainly weigh in, and he offered me the opportunity to weigh in, and he also offered to share with me any actions he was considering taking."

Christie said that the executive director of the transition office, Jeff Chiesa, reports that the Governor's office has been "very cooperative" and has "given him everything he's asked for." 

What Christie and Corzine don't have an agreement on is what happens if Corzine makes an appointment he does not agree with.

"If he does intend to do something and I weigh in saying that I wouldn't like him to do it, then we'll have to see what happens," said Christie.  "But hopefully we're going to just be able to work well together. He's going to respect the prerogatives of the people who voted on November 3rd, and I certainly respect his prerogative.  It's a four year term.  It's not a three year, 10 month term."

Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac told PolitickerNJ.com he does not want to chair the Middlesex County Democratic Organization.

"No, that's just somebody starting trouble," said the mayor, whose town, Woodbridge, went for GOP candidate Chris Christie over Gov. Jon Corzine even as McCormac's local Democrats won in all but one of the wards where they contended.

"Not interested," said McCormac, who also denied he is interested in leading the state party organization.

Some Democrats quietly fumed and blamed the former State Treasurer for working against Corzine during the campaign, but the mayor all along said he was focused on electing local candidates and preserving a majority on the council.

Association with an unpopular incumbent governor was not in his best local interest.

Christie two days after the election surfaced on the streets of Woodbridge to hobnob with McCormac and local busness owners.

EDISON - Against a landscape of Middlesex County Democratic Party strife, Vice President Joe Biden this afternoon stumped for Gov. Jon Corzine, arguing the international context of the recession, which he said Republican candidate Chris Christie has tried to pin solely on Corzine.

"Jon has said he governed in tough times," said the vice president. "Let's give him the chance to govern in good times."

Deadlocked with Christie, according to most polls, Corzine's handlers want him to repeat a double-barrel message from here until Election Day two weeks from now: remind people that he acted early to blunt the impact of the recession, and that the pro-unon, pro-choice, anti-gun incumbent shares the values of most New Jersey voters. 

Biden was here to amplify that two-pronged argument.

"Isn't it great we have Barack Obama and Joe Biden in the White House?" Corzine asked the crowd. "Their values are our values, right?"

Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac confirmed that he had two summertime meetings with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) about the possibility of challenging freshman U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) in 2010, but told the DCCC late last month he won't run.

"I was flattered to be considered but i have the job I've always loved and I'm only halfway through my first term," said McCormac. "I made a commitment to the people of Woodbridge."

A former state treasurer, McCormac said he had one meeting with the DCCC in Woodbridge in early June. Later the same month he went to Washington, D.C. for more talks.

"I told them sometime in the last month I wouldn't be a candidate for consideration," McCormac said.

NEW BRUNSWICK -  State Sen. Bob Smith (D-Piscataway) believes local contests will drive Democratic Party turnout in Middlesex County and improve Gov. Jon Corzine's opportunity for victory, particularly local fights in Woodbridge and New Brunswick.

"I'm on the hustings every night, and I can feel the momentum turning our way," said Smith, appearing with Corzine at an event to promote the governor's Return to Work program.

But talk to Democrats privately about the gubernatorial race and their worry inevitably runs to Middlesex, where Corzine scored 67% in the Democratic Primary, and where Republican Chris Christie signs make front lawn statements everywhere in the sprawl of blue collar towns here.

Sensing opportunity, Christie and his running mate, Kim Guadagno, campaigned avidly in Middlesex this summer, hitting the fairgrounds and street parades in places like Edison and Sayreville and generally stirring more enthusiasm for their candidate than a comparatively moribund Democratic Party effort.

WOODBRIDGE - Born in South Amboy to a factory worker father who worked at the Perth Amboy Chevron company, a resident of Woodbridge with family in all of the towns over here, Craig Coughlin considers himself a diehard blue collar creation of the 19th District. 

"I think I know the district as well as anyone can," said Coughlin, 51, who's heading into a special convention showdown next Wednesday with retired Superior Court Judge Mathias Rodriguez of Perth Amboy to earn the right as a Democratic candidate in the 19th.

"I don't think Judge Rodriguez knows the district as well as I do," said Coughlin, who's lived in the district's biggest town, Woodbridge, since 1993. "I have friends and family in every community. I know the district. I know what matters. People want a good educational system, protection for seniors and people-centered legislation. I have experience in the judiciary and on the political side."

He lives here in the 19th, and works here.