Jun Choi

The DCCC is on the air with a radio ad attacking U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance, who has been in Congress about a month.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will begin running a radio advertisement today attacking newly-elected U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton) for voting against President Obama's $89 billion economic stimulus plan.  The DCCC did not disclose how much they are spending on the Lane ads, but Democratic party sources said it was not an expensive media buy.

Lance easily held the 7th district House seat last November (51%-42%) despite substantial financial help from the DCCC for Democrat Linda Stender, a four-term Assemblywoman. 

I am writing to you about my intention to be the next Freeholder representing Middlesex County.    This vacancy was created by the unexpected passing of a man who has not only been my mentor, but has dedicated the majority of his life to the people of Middlesex County, David Crabiel. As a council member in Edison, and later as council president, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work with Freeholder Crabiel to help make Edison better for every taxpayer in the town, and to make Middlesex County the greatest county in the land. 

Edison Mayor Jun Choi outside one of his favorite haunts in his hometown.

EDISON – His town’s paved over compared to some of the more quaint rural reaches of the Garden State, but Mayor Jun Choi of Edison never had the luxury of acting like a politician who can stand on an unbreakable political foundation. 

He’s running for re-election next year, and this one will be no give-me for the first-term mayor who ran as an underdog the first time and despite the advantage he enjoys as an incumbent, can probably still claim the underdog brand as he squares off against a regenerated opposition. 

There are three council members up for re-election in 2009, and they are all prospective mayoral candidates: Council President Robert Diehl, Councilwoman Antonia Ricigliano, and Councilman Anthony Massaro.  

If it sounds like an easy divide and conquer opportunity for an incumbent with especially good name ID and blue collar celebrity status whose change-time election three years ago made the national magazine circuit, it’s actually not. 

Focused on getting re-elected mayor next year, Edison Mayor Jun Choi won’t entertain questions about a 7th District Congressional run in 2010, or about 2011 legislative redistricting.  

“My only interest right now is Edison,” Choi told PolitickerNJ.com. “My only interest is to improve the quality of life for Edison residents and to complete the job we started in Edison. I am committed to running for re-election.”

Choi bucked the organization line nearly four years ago to win as an independent Democrat. Whether or not the party organization gives him a concerted challenge in 2009 is now a question mark, at least according to party brass.   

U.S. Rep.-elect Leonard Lance will be tough to beat in 2010 after besting Democrat Linda Stender by nine percentage points

Democrats don't think it will be easy to  unseat soon-to-be freshman Leonard Lance from the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010.  Lance scored a 51%-42% victory over Linda Stender, who had been running for three years and had huge financial support from national Democrats.  The district has been Republican since Florence Dwyer ousted Harrison Williams in 1956. 

DENVER -- As one of the younger faces in the New Jersey delegation, Jun Choi, 37, insists this year will be different: instead of paying lip service to the Democratic candidate, young people will actually come out to vote for Barack Obama. 

More than they came out for Bill Clinton in 1992.  And certainly more than the lackluster youth vote for John Kerry in 2004. 

“The difference between Obama and past candidates is that Barack’s leadership inspired a movement that has excited a whole new generation of young people to get involved in politics,” said Choi while attending a party sponsored by a lobbying/public relations firm. 

They don’t look alike, aren’t the same gender, and they’re generations apart.

But Democratic National Committeewoman June Fischer, 76 and Edison Mayor Jun Choi, 37, were kindred spirits as they took in the Democratic National Convention next to each othher tonight as the “two Jun(e)s”, and joked that – seriously, sort of -- they have a lot in common.

“Besides sharing a great name, we’re both die-hard Democrats,” said Choi.

Fischer’s first convention was 1972, when she watched George McGovern accept the Democratic presidential nomination. She’s been to every one since. Choi’s first was 2000, when he watched Al Gore accept the nomination. He’s been to every one since then.

They both hope that this time will turn out better.

EDISON - Diners anchor what’s left of the train-track and warehouseEdison Mayor Jun Choi: Politicker file photo girded countryside in this sprawling town, fifth biggest in New Jersey, where Mayor Jun Choi drinks his coffee on a summer morning in one of the more recognizable roadside haunts called the Plaza Diner.

The suit and tie and modest demeanor belie a man restlessly at work, for if Choi was an enigmatic upstart when he hit the scene three years ago, he has built himself into a surging political force, three-fourths of the way into his first term.

"And I’m running again," he says with a smile.

The Edison-raised kid who came from the inner sanctum of Bill Bradley’s machine-bucking 2000 presidential campaign, former state Department of Education wonk, Choi remains the Democratic Party outsider in a party that still does not know quite what to do with him.

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.

NJ for Obama organizers Julie Diaz and Keith Hovey.

The Obama campaign started small here, with handfuls of coffee house organizers lining up behind a grassroots operation called NJ for Obama in the face of a big party machine backing Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), and an unpopular war in Iraq.

Founded in an Edison coffee shop in December of 2006, the group’s leader was Damian Bednarz, 25, a Master’s student in international relations with Seton Hall University’s Whitehead School of Diplomacy.

"Obama has something that Hillary Clinton can’t buy or reproduce, and that’s a sense of inspiration," Bednarz said at the time. "If anything, I’m encouraged by Clinton’s frontrunner status because I know our work is so special."

In the months following, some elected offiicials endorsed the Illinois senator, among them Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union), who came out in favor of Obama in April of 2007, followed by state Sen. John Adler (D-Camden) a couple of weeks later.

"At this time we need someone special... someone who is going to build a bridge brick by brick to peace through negotiation," said Cohen, a graduate of Howard University who arrived at politics through the Civil Rights era.