Steve Adubato

NEWARK - Gov-elect Chris Christie and Lt. Gov.-elect Kim Guadagno will appear at The Robert Treat Academy this afternoon to tour the facility and to talk about charter school education, according to the Christie campaign.

The operation was founded by North Ward Democratic leader Steve Adubato.

New Jersey Network (NJN) will be airing Christie's press conference live at 1:30 PM, and will rebroadcast it in entirety at 11:30 PM.

West Ward Councilman Ronald C. Rice

NEWARK - The crowd spilled out onto the pavement following the rally with President Barack Obama and just in case there was any doubt about why he was in town, a TV truck broadcasting flatscreen images of Gov. Jon Corzine in action started circling the arena blasting out the message, "Corzine, Corzine, Corzine."

The crowd, of course, was still talking about Obama.

"Awesome," said Assemblywoman L. Grace Spencer (D-Newark), who was positioned on the floor in front of the stage where the president spoke at the Prudential Center said in response to a PolitickerNJ.com question. "There is a humility to him - unmistakable. It's easy to see that he worked his way up the hard way."

"I'm writing a book called 'Obama Chicks,'" said Pam Jasper, a certified pilot, wearing a hat with "Obama Chicks" printed on it in pink letters.

But with less than 40 hours to go before Election Day, the president is delivering more than inspirational presence to Newark. 

NEW BRUNSWICK - Obama's on the ballot Tuesday.

That's what U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark) told a group of black activists and Payne allies at a meeting of the African-American Political Alliance here aat the United Methodist Church on Saturday.

"This race has national significance," the veteran congressman told a room packed with 100 leaders and community activists. "The Republicans would love to say a Corzine loss is a referendum on Obama. If we lose Virginia, and then lose New Jersey, you can see the headline: 'Clean sweep by GOP: Obama on the decline.' They just can't wait to write that story.

"There's no way we're going to allow that to happen, right?"

"Right," the crowd called back.

Payne called up Corzine Deputy Campaign Manager James Gee.

"It's essential the - and they have all these fancy names for it - the base vote comes out," said Gee.

Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford), left, and Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo Wednesday night at Durkin's fundraiser.

BELLEVILLE - It was fitting that the main man at the microphone tonight at Nanina's in the Park was County Clerk Chris Durkin, a walking hybrid of two opposing political camps, which 20 days before a gubernatorial election can already see the delineations of a county executive battle in 2010.

"Dick Codey was ready to lead when he became governor and he made us all so proud to live, work and play in this state," Durkin said of the former governor and sitting senate president, in the next breath noting of his boss, the Essex County Executive, "Joe DiVincenzo has made Essex County the envy not only of the state but of the country. He is the taxpayers' best friend, and a bureaucrat's worst nightmare."

If it sounded like homage paid to opposing warlords, Durkin is indeed ensconced in the administration of the powerful county executive, but his mother, Joan, is a Codey, cousin of Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland), who last month was unofficially forced off the senate throne in a north-south Jersey Democratic Party coup that hinged on DiVincenzo backing Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) as the new senate president.

Tonight, Durkin - an amiable presence belying a torturous Codey v. DiVincenzo undercurrent - greeted guests to his $150-a-plate fundraiser, including headlining speaker Newark Mayor Cory Booker and the governor himself, who posed for pictures with Durkin before ascending a staircase where South Jerseyan Sweeney stood in a milling, hors d'oeuvres munching crowd with DiVincenzo. 

From left: Assemblyman Fred Scalera (D-Nutley), Gov. Jon Corzine, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), Nutley Mayor Joanne Cocchiola, Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, and Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-Belleville)

BELLEVILLE - The self-proclaimed party of diversity lined up at the start of the Columbus Day Parade today, and if the presence of a single woman packed into this brace of gray and blue suited would-be alpha males heartened Democratic Party onlookers, the downside was that Nutley Mayor Joanne Cocchiola is, in fact, a Republican.

"We're from every part of Italy you can imagine," cracked U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) in an effort to explain the gender domination factor; indeed, they even had an Irishman in there, Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin, who made a point, in the midst of all the pre-march backyard chest-thumping, to compliment Celeste Caputo, wife of Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-Belleville), on the food.

Making an appearance here at arguably the area's most important Columbus Day event and forced to share a piece of the street with a Christopher Columbus lookalike in Genovese regalia who, when addressed, only responded in Italian, Gov. Jon Corzine relished a chance to inflate his wobbly image in this blue collar, Italian-Irish-Latino Catholic stronghold where Newark's white ethnics re-entrenched after the 1967 troubles.

Twenty-three days from D-Day, he leaned heavily on the locals.

"He opens up his home the way he opens up his heart," Corzine, affectionately gripping the back of Caputo's neck, told a crowd of local Democratic Party rivals who shelved their differences long enough to occupy the same patio with the governor moments before convening in the street at the head of any number of school marching bands, 1940s and 1950s cars, and party flotillas.

Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange)

ORANGE - Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver's (D-East Orange) first foray into Essex County politics was as a kamikaze freeholder candidate in the 1990s running on a line with renegade state Sen. Richard Codey (D-Roseland).

Codey won and Oliver lost, and now years later it looks as though Senate President Codey's headed for a leadership defeat in his caucus as Oliver musters support on top of support in her quest to be the first African American woman speaker of the Assembly, but in the process faces a home county in which a Codey defeat could mean civil war.

Oliver has yet to announce the support of any assembly people from Essex County, but she's working on it, while also respecting, she says, political protocol and the reality that Essex County Democratic Chairman Phil Thigpen still stands with Codey.

"I am attempting to ameliorate Essex County; I believe Chairman Thigpen will avert a civil war and at the end of the day Essex County will be together," she insisted, speaking to the stunning news this morning that Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) summoned enough Democratic caucus backing to beat Senate President Codey when the senate reconvenes after the gubernatorial election on Nov. 3rd.

Among the fourteen backers (including Sweeney himself), two senators declaring their support for South Jerseyan Sweeney over Essex County's own Codey are county employees, state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark) and state Sen. Nia Gill (D-Montclair).

The fact that Oliver also works for the county as an assistant county administrator sent waves of anxiety through those Codey forces concerned with the concentration of too much power in the office of County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo. seeking a third term next year - probably not without a fight at this point.

Now with the real threat of a Codey retaliation against DiVincenzo, Oliver said the boss factor - namely DiVincenzo's closeness to North Ward Leader Steve Adubato and Adubato's alliance with South Jersey Democratic leader (and Sweeney-backer) George Norcross III - is a non-issue.

"I am the most independent person ever elected," said the assemblywoman from East Orange whose five and a half years in the legislature make her the second longest-serving assemblyperson from the Essex delegation after Assemblyman John McKeon (D-West Orange).

Gov. Jon Corzine, right, in the Central Ward today with Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin.

NEWARK - Notwithstanding good spirits on the occasion of a new school opening in the Central Ward, an ongoing investigation by the state Attorney General's Office into possible North Ward voter fraud has Newark political operatives rocking on their heels with worry 83 days in front of Gov. Jon Corzine's Nov. 3rd showdown with Republican Chris Christie.

Corzine needs big numbers in Essex County, Democratic Party base country where Presidential candidate Barack Obama last year drove higher voter turnout than anywhere else in the state. The usually performing North Ward Democratic Organization plays a key role - especially in a low voter turnout election, but a cowed infrastructure could play havoc with Corzine's local results here.

Even as his campaign continues to target former U.S. Attorney Christie's phone conversations with former George W. Bush political mastermind Karl Rove and raises questions about Christie's political motivations while serving as U.S. Attorney, Corzine today said Attorney General Anne Milgram and her investigators will carry out their duties regardless of whether it hurts him politically.

"The state Attorney General pursues an even-handed administration of justice," Corzine told reporters. "The political commitments that people make, I think are independent of that."

Booker today in the Central Ward.

NEWARK - Many a cupped hand over the phone conversation has gone on in the Central Ward about who Mayor Cory Booker plans to run next year in that sprawling fifth of the city where he once served as councilman.

Today, at a ribbon cutting ceremony in the Central Ward for Steve Adubato's new Robert Treat Academy-Central on William Street, Booker all but affixed his imprimatur to the reelection of Councilman Charles Bell.

"The stars have aligned from Charlie Bell all the way to Barack Obama," crooned Booker.

Decked in a gold suit and matching hat, Bell beamed in the front row of a packed auditorium.

"Like Councilman Bell said, 'It's just about getting it done,'" Booker added to the issue of education.

Council President Mildred Crump, left, with her ally, School Board member Nakea White.

NEWARK- Along with the South Ward, where organizer Ras Baraka is building to mount an aggressive challenge of South Ward Councilman Oscar James II, the central ward again looms as a battleground in the Newark 2010 municipal race, with one candidate a definite go and two others hovering near the starting gate.

The Booker Team's filing report shows the mayor listing freshman School Board member Nakea White as his ticket mate for central ward council, but White won't comment about whether that means she's a lock to run next year.

That may be in no small part because Central Ward Councilman Charles Bell says he's ready to run to secure a full term after defeating Booker's candidate last year in a special election war.

His decision is not definitive, but very close.

State Senate candidate At-Large Councilman Luis Quintana (center, with microphone) stumps for his ally, Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, in 2007.

If Hudson Democrats have chewed up most of the headlines lately, Essex County Dems are trying to gut through their own troubles, as sources say investigators with the state Attorney General's Office today continued their probe of absentee ballot fraud in connection with the 2007 race of state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark).

The unrest cuts at the heart of Newark's most reliable Democratic Party GOTV operation: the North Ward.  

Sources say investigators conducted a search at the offices of Carmine Casciano, commissioner for voter registration in Essex County, part of a comb-through they've undertaken in there for weeks.

Four people have already been charged with ballot fraud as a result of a complaint filed by state Senate candidate Luis Quintana, the at-large councilman, who was crushed by Ruiz in their 2007 contest.

Despite the backdrop of bad news for Essex Democrats who are already looking at depleted machinery in neighboring Hudson, North Ward Democratic Party political operative Phil Alagia, who ran Ruiz's campaign, is set to begin his job as political director for the Corzine '09 campaign on Monday.