Larry Hamm

Newark Mayor Cory Booker on Election Day, 2008

Standing in the vanguard of opposing parties makes Gov.-elect Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker obvious political adversaries - a relationship made more intriguing by their agreeable history and the crisis demands on both of them to deliver reforms in their respective spheres of power - but whatever the dynamics of their personal and professional relations, allies of both men expect a coming collision between Newark and New Jersey.

Don't count Booker among them.

"I know people want to turn this into a rivalry but when you consider the monumental challenges we are up against right now, he is my greatest ally," Booker said of Christie, the Republican who on Nov. 3rd defeated Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine. "To characterize us as rivals would be like saying Democrats and Republicans were the chief antagonists during World War II. We're in a crisis."

"I would also say - and I use this word because it is accurate - that Chris Christie is my friend. We have been friends for three years and he can assume credit for things we have accomplished here these past three years."

Booker knows the buzz about how he's the Democratic Party's most likely nominee for governor in 2013, to which he gives the only politic response: he's focused on the city's crime problem.

Prodded on politics and Christie, he adds, "I'm focused on next year's mayoral election and on electing the Booker Team (of council candidates)."

Sharpe James NEWARK - A lot of Democrats who worked with Sharpe James over the years had one word to describe what they felt today as they watched a federal jury deliver a guilty verdict in the former mayor’s corruption trial.

They felt sad.

"Sometimes we cooperated, sometimes we didn’t, but I really believe he cared about Newark," said North Ward Democratic leader Steve Adubato. "It’s a terrible tragedy."

Eldridge Hawkins was first elected to the State Assembly in 1971
Veteran African American leaders backing Sen. Hillary Clinton admit that while she doesn't have great speech-making abilities, she and her husband presided personably over a White House attentive to important issues like urban crime and children's healthcare.

But those who support newcomer Sen. Barack Obama can't forget Clinton's affirmative vote on the war in Iraq, and say their man is better poised to inspire a beleaguered nation.

Either way, each side concedes it's an historic time for the Democratic Party and the 256,059 registered African American voters here, and a chance for New Jersey to play a vital role in its first ever early primary on Feb. 5th.

Larry Hamm isn’t depressed.

He looked out from atop a stage in Newark’s Lincoln Park Saturday and saw hundreds of people representing groups from around the state joined in protest of the Iraq War.

Hamm, who leads the People’s Organization for Progress in Newark, has been on this march against the war from the beginning, and has withstood the criticism that without a draft and in an era of ringtones and ipods there is no traction for an effective anti-war movement.