Hard to believe we have arrived at the last year of the first decade of the 21st century. Boy, seems like it was just yesterday that Bush was handed the presidency by the Supreme Court.

And what a year it was! For the folks in the New Jersey news in 2008, we have some parting gifts:

Well, the presidential campaign season is finally over, and now it's that time of the year when we have our very special feature -- the NJ Politics Unusual mailbag. This is where we get to answer questions generated from our scores and scores of regular readers, passionate fans, soulful admirers, aficionados, devotees, follower, groupies, detractors, critics, and anonymous stalkers. We get so many emails, IMs, text messages, and posts it's hard to keep up. But, we do the best we can to respond to the minions of loyal readers of every shape and size -- whether they are real or imaginary or praising or attacking. Either way, it's nice to know they find the readings interesting enough to surf to at their computer desk.
 
So here goes.

"Union ratifies new contract with Star-Ledger."
AP Newswire
 
"New Jersey cannot lose its' only paper!", cry readers. This, according to news stories in the Bergen Record, Courier News, Asbury Park Press, the Press of Atlantic City and the New Jersey section of The New York Times.

Teamsters Local 1100, which represents 400 Star-Ledger mailers [or it might be Teamsters Local 400 representing 1100 Star-Ledger mailers, I can never remember], voted on a contract ratification. One-hundred eighty-three voted for the ratification, 18 voted to oppose and 75 abstained.

And now we go back in time, to Mr. Dembo's eighth grade science class and JHS 278, and a sixteen millimeter film about the seasonal migration of a very special species of ‘birds'----the Politicus Presidentius Candidatus. This year, the migration started particularly early....

In the quadrennial running of "the presidential candidates" [Politicus Presidentius Candidatus], within both ‘Republicanus' and ‘Democraticus' varieties, there seems to be one common similarity amongst the species: it is how those who previously attacked opponents viciously during their year long migration around the country in search of the nourishment of ‘votes', now lavish praise upon the most popular presidential candidate, as they settle in for a brief gathering before the hard ‘political season'.

Some political humor just writes itself. And who says Sarah Palin's not ready to be president, anyway?

She has a brother-in-law like Jimmy Carter's brother, that she tried to fire. A sex scandal with her daughter equal to any Bill Clinton ever did. Her husband drives drunk like George W. Bush. And she is being investigated for ethics violations in her home state. Ready for president? She is pre-scandalized, for heck's sake! What could happened to her in the White House that already hasn't happened? The odds are with her. So, for your enjoyment, but before she's dropped from the ticket, I offer this song.

Joey Novick from Politics Unusual spent the entire week live blogging from the Convention. Here are his daily posts, exclusive to PolitickerNJ.com.

Flemington Mayor Austin Kutscher Jr. resigned yesterday, saying he wants to spend more time in his medical practice -- he is a cardiologist -- and more time with his family. The Democrat has been Mayor of eleven years. One of the leading candidates to replace him is Councilman Joey Novick, the former Hunterdon County Democratic Chairman and a talented stand-up comic.