WEST ORANGE, NJ – Senate President Richard J. Codey today called upon National Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean to heed the will of the people and encourage Super Delegates to apportion their votes to accurately and fairly reflect the choice of voters in state party primaries and caucuses.  In doing so, Codey sent the following letter today:

A ceremony for the 2008 Presidential candidacy of Sen. Hillary Clinton in Elizabeth drummed up buko backing in New Jersey on Monday, but supporters of Sen. Barack Obama continue to organize on the ground -- and work for the endorsements from public officials who so far, at least publicly, remain coy about their presidential picks.

Riding a surge of rock star popularity natonwide, Obama limps far behind Clinton in the polls - 40-19 in New Jersey, according to Quinnipiac University.

But Newark City Councilman Ronald Rice Jr., whose unofficial role in the burgeoning Obama campaign is to serve as a liasion between the grassroots movement for Obama and elected officials, says the ground remains fertile for the freshman Illinois senator to come from behind with less than a year to go before the Democratic Primary here.

Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner to win New Jersey's February 5, 2008 Democratic primary -- she has the backing of Governor Jon Corzine and ten Democratic County Chairmen -- but her campaign loses points out of the box for a sloppy Garden State debut. Their press release unveiling the first wave of endorsements left off five County Chairmen (and included one who says he told the campaign last week not to use his name), and did not include some powerful supporters, like Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo.

Corzine fell far short of delivering the kind of massive organizational endorsements that James E. McGreevey did for Howard Dean in 2004 or that Christine Todd Whitman amassed for George W. Bush in 2000 and for Bob Dole in 1996. Missing from the publicly released list were a mass of legislators -- just four of 22 Democratic State Senators and only four five of 49 Democrats in the State Assembly -- albeit three of the most powerful legislators. (Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts agreed to endorse Clinton only last Friday, and presumably will deliver many members of his caucus over the coming weeks.) Clinton has just two of the state's eight Democratic Congressmen (Dean had more) and neither of New Jersey's United States Senators participated in the New Jersey rollout.

Lame duck Senate Majority Leader/Hudson County Democratic Chairman Bernard Kenny has taken back his public endorsement of Hillary Rodham Clinton for President.  He has endorsed Clinton and told her campaign that he would agree to have him name announced with other key Democrats, but then decided not to announce his endorsement until after the 2007 primary in Hudson County.  His name was included on the Clinton press release anyway, forcing a subsequent retraction.  

Previously, Kenny had strongly denied accurate reports that he intended to retire from the Senate; his denials were followed by a retirement announcement.  He is currently denying rumors that he will leave the Senate early to become Commissioner of Community Affairs; high ranking sources in the Governors office say that the job had already been offered to him, and that the longtime legislator has accepted.

Gov. Jon Corzine endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton for President today, along with Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, Reps. Rob Andrews and Frank Pallone, former Governors Brendan Byrne and Jim Florio, Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan, and six County Chairmen.

�She is someone who I know as a leader,� Corzine said. “And I hope the American people will recognize she is the most qualified person to be President of the United States.�

Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes has endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton for President.

"In a diverse field of Democratic candidates, Senator Clinton stands out as the one candidate with the star appeal to reach into America's homes and lead American into the future," said Hughes.

Hughes, the son of former Gov. Richard J.  Hughes, served as a Mercer County Freeholder before winning election as County Executive in 2003 -- the first Democrat to win the post in 24 years.

Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts will endorse Hillary Rodham Clinton for President on Monday.  Clinton had phoned Roberts, one of the state's most powerful Democrats, several times in recent weeks -- including a long conversation on Wednesday.  Roberts told Clinton today that he would join Governor Jon Corzine at an endorsement rally in Elizabeth next week.  

Gov. Jon Corzine will endorse Hillary Rodham Clinton for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination on Monday in Elizabeth.  Corzine is expected to be joined by a long list of Clinton supporters, including Reps. Frank Pallone and Rob Andrews.