If Gov. Jon Corzine wins re-election, look for former reality TV star Dr. Randal Pinkett to be on the short list of candidates for Secretary of State.  Corzine came close to picking Pinkett to run for Lt. Governor last summer, and the Franklin business executive and Ph.D. has been working hard for the campaign as Chairman of Yes We Can 2.0, a GOTV operation of the state Democratic Party.  Nina Mitchell Wells is expected to leave her post in January.

TRENTON - A wounded county came out here tonight to get a glimpse of former President Bill Clinton before the Secret Service propelled him away - again - to some more voter-concentrated region of the state for what Democrats hope will be a pay dirt rally at Rutgers University.

"I knew you weren't here to see me," Mayor Doug Palmer told a crowd at his $150 fundraiser for his nonprofit Trenton First, over one of his shoulders stood Gov. Jon Corzine with two weeks to go in a dead-heat gubernatorial contest.

Over Palmer's other shoulder stood Clinton.

"God, he looks great, Clinton - so slim," said Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing).

"You're here to see the president," supplied Palmer with a smile and deafening war whoops filled the banquet hall here at the Marriott, a building Palmer helped bring to Trenton.

The mayor acknowledged Corzine at last, and threw in a "first and foremost" when introducing him. Corzine, it should be said, received raucous applause. 

Former TV reality star Randal Pinkett says that GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie is tied to the economic policies of former President George W. Bush.

"As tonight's debate showed, the stakes of this election could not be higher for New Jersey voters," said Pinkett, who was under consideration for Lt. Governor earlier this year.  "While Chris Christie would move the state backward by promoting the same, failed Bush economic policies that got us into this economic mess, Governor Corzine will continue to fight for what matters."

The Republicans offered no comment from former reality TV stars, but State Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Cedar Grove) took Christie's side.

Following the resignation of Joseph Doria last Thursday, the Acting Commissioner of Community Affairs is state government veteran Charles Richman.  Richman also served as Acting Commissioner for six months in 2005 when Susan Bass Levin resigned to join Gov. Jon Corzine's campaign staff.

Corzine is unlikely to name a new Commissioner before Election Day; if he did, it wouldn't matter: the Senate won't be available to confirm an appointment since they are not due back into session until the lame duck session. If Corzine wins re-election, one possible candidate for DCA Commissioner could be Reality TV star Randal Pinkett, a Rhodes Scholar and businessman who was nearly picked by Corzine as the Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor.

Democrats and Republicans from Union County who know Frank Esposito, the Kean University professor picked yesterday to run for Lt. Governor on a ticket with independent Christopher Daggett, says he's a very nice guy.  But people who know him say he's never been especially interested in government and wonder if the 68-year-old academic and college administrator knows what he's getting into.  Politics is a tough game for a newcomer, as Reality TV star Randal Pinkett found out in recent weeks, and Esposito surely wants to hold his own this fall when he debates State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) and Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno, the two major party LG candidates.

ENGLEWOOD -- Randal Pinkett did not turn out to be Gov. Corzine’s pick for lieutenant governor, but he showed up to the Bergen Performing Arts Center to watch Loretta Weinberg accept the number two spot today.

Pinkett, a Rhodes Scholar technology consultant who holds multiple advanced degrees, saw his academic and professional achievements overshadowed by his fame as the Season 4 winner of “The Apprentice.”  Newspaper editorial pushback and dissent among Democratic Party insiders who decried his lack of government experience popped his trial balloon. 

But Pinkett said he was not disappointed.

“I think it’s a great pick, particularly with what’s happened over the past few days, “said Pinkett, citing Weinberg’s “record on trying to tighten the regulations around corruption and financial disclosure of elected officials.”

PASSAIC - The news out of Newark today that Randal Pinkett is interested in the job of lieutenant governor and considers himself still in the running to be on the ticket with Gov. Jon Corzine, seemed to surprise Democratic Party members here at a party unity event at City Hall.

"No comment," said Passaic County Democratic Chairman John Currie with a shake of his head.

The chairman, in attendance in support of the re-election campaign of Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) and Assemblyman Fred Scalera (D-Nutley), admitted his preference for first term Passaic County Freeholder Tahesha Way, whose name surfaced two weeks ago as an LG prospect, but seems to have maintained no traction in the upper eschelons of party politics, as state Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen) and state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) appear to have staked out short-list status - in front of Saturday's long anticipated governor's announcement.

"I like Tahesha Way for the job," Currie said.

Other Democrats here admitted they thought Pinkett was finished after elected officials almost to a man expressed worry about a political neophyte running a statewide race with an unpopular incumbent governor at the top of the ticket.

After lieutenant governor prospect Randal Pinkett held a news conference to say he remains interested in the post, Gov. Corzine’s campaign offered kind words about him.  

“Throughout this process, we discovered what everyone already knew: Randal Pinkett is one of the state’s most accomplished, and most talented, young men,” said Corzine Communications Director Sean Darcy.  “A Rhodes Scholar, successful businessman, and all-around class act, he has been one of the people under consideration for the Lieutenant Governor position from the very beginning.  Randal Pinkett brings unique talent and qualifications to the conversation for Lieutenant Governor.  We are fortunate to have such a depth of diversity and talent in the New Jersey Democratic Party.”

Pinkett, a technology consultant and former Rhodes Scholar whose multiple advanced degrees have been overshadowed by his status as the winner of Season 4 of “The Apprentice,” was briefly considered the frontrunner for the number two spot on the ballot.  In the aftermath of negative newspaper editorials and discontent among Corzine’s supporters, however, Pinkett’s political stock has dropped precipitously. 

Democratic sources say that Gov. Jon Corzine has not made a final decision on a running mate, but that State Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen) has emerged as the front runner in an internal contest where there is only one voter - and he is undecided.

The conventional wisdom right now is that Corzine will choose between Buono and State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck).   Some Democrats were counting Buono out as recently as last Thursday, when Reality TV star Randal Pinkett looked to be the governor's first choice, and as recently as yesterday, when there were signals that Weinberg was the favorite. Pinkett held a news conference today to say that he would consider the LG nod if Corzine were to offer it.  Democrats with knowledge of the LG selection process say that Corzine's choice will not be Pinkett.

Our advice to readers: this is all entirely speculative; wait for a formal announcement to know for sure.  That announcement must come before Monday.

NEWARK - After nothing but negative feedback from the party - with the exception being state Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth), who liked Pinkett and gave him a plug when asked about his prospects as a candidate for lieutenant governor, and a scathing Star-Ledger editorial begging Corzine to return to "reality," reality TV star/Rhodes scholar Randal Pinkett late last week looked DOA for LG. 

But in a oval court room here today at Rutgers University, where Pinkett supporters appeared to outnumber the press corps 0 and where his allies blasted the press for its treatment of Pinkett - the Somerset businessman formally expressed his interest in the job of Gov. Jon Corzine's running mate.

"I am an ethusiastic supporter of Gov. Jon Corzine  - and I will continue to support this governor regardless of the outcome of this particular episode," said Pinkett. "I support the Democratic Party's efforts. I am here this morning to directly address (speculation) about my candidacy for lieutenant governor."

He acknoweldged that it is his understanding that he is "one" of Corzine's candidates for lieutenant governor. 

Pinkett said the governor's team approached him, and he said he was extremely honored.