Joe Biden

Among New Jerseyans likely pleased to see Barack Obama pick Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate is Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

Biden made his last New Jersey public appearance in May to headline a fundraiser for Lautenberg in Union during the New Jersey senior Senator's primary campaign against U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews.

Biden said it was the first time in his 35 year Senate career that he had gotten involved in a primary. And on Wednesday, he joined a Lautenberg donor campaign conference call to whip up their enthusiasm for the campaign. 

Governor Corzine said earlier this week, and repeated yesterday, that he thought Hillary Clinton would be the strongest possible running mate for Barack Obama.

But Corzine knew that wasn’t likely to happen during the final weeks of the vice-presidential selection madness, and said that, barring Clinton, he’d like to see Obama choose Biden.

“Biden is the person I would pick given that it gives great credence to the ticket with regard to national strategic and policy issues, and it allows for Sen. Obama to give full focus on the economy, which is number one, two and three on the voters’ minds,” he said yesterday.

Mark Alexander: Politicker file photo

DENVER -- U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's choice of veteran U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) to serve as his running mate prompted an immediate reaction from Mark Alexander of Montclair, Obama's senior adviser and former New Jersey state director.

Alexander cited Biden's foreign policy credentials as a key reason for why he is a good vice residential candidate. He also identified Biden's outspokenness as a positive.

"Joe Biden is an individual with a proven commitment to progressive issues and to speaking his mind about the values he holds dear," Alexander said. "His foreign policy experience is well-informed, principled, and visionary. His long-time leadership as a key member of the Judiciary Committee has been equally inspirational."

Barack Obama is expected to name Joe Biden as his running mate today: Getty Images Photo
Barack Obama has picked Joseph Biden, a six-term U.S. Senator from Delaware and the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as the Democratic nominee for Vice President, according to published reports.  Obama is expected to formally announce his selection of Biden this morning at a rally at the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois.  Biden, 66, ran for President this year, but dropped out of the race after losing the Iowa caucus to Obama.  He has served in the Senate since January, 1973.

State Party Chairman Joseph Cryan on Friday night.: Politicker photo 

DENVER - The Denver Broncos had left several hours earlier when Joseph Cryan, state Democratic Party chairman, entered the lobby of the Hotel Inverness on Friday night at around 10 p.m., mountain time. 

The football team trains nearby and evidently they get their pre-home game rub-downs here at the Inverness. 

Now the Broncos could be seen vying against the Packers on suspended television sets in the Spotted Dog bar and all the talk around Cryan from his state committee staffers concerned Barack Obama's veep pick.

Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) apparently were already out of the running, according to news reports, leaving most of the New Jersey staffers assuming that Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) would be Obama's running mate.

TRENTON -- While some local Republicans think that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-D, Conn.) could be the John McCain running mate who could appeal to Jewish voters who traditionally go for Democrats and potentially put this state into play, Gov. Jon Corzine said today that the selection would have minimal – if any – impact. 

“I think people elect presidents, not vice-presidents.  At the margin it might take a double-digit victory for Sen. Obama down into the high single digits,” said Corzine.

But Corzine said he wasn’t even sure it would go that far, since a Lieberman selection could cause the party’s most right wing voters to sit the election out.

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8), right, with U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ).: Politicker file photo 

On a regular basis now, Gov. Jon Corzine reminds audiences that he’s running for re-election. If he doesn’t end up running for whatever reason, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) says he wouldn’t mind personally stepping into the breach.

But whoever ends up out there on the barricade facing the GOP in a statewide race, Pascrell said his party should not fear likely Republican candidate U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, whom Quinnipiac University last week listed one point above the governor in a statistical tie - 41% to 40%.

Of his own gubernatorial run, "I would think about it very seriously," Pascrell said. "Right now I’m supporting the governor and I would urge him to run for re-election.

Joe Biden’s rise to the top of Barack Obama’s vice presidential short list could create a change on U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez’s staff.   Danny O’Brien, who became Menendez’s Chief of Staff in May, served as Biden’s Chief of Staff for several years before leaving to become Political Director of Biden’s ill-fated campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.  If Biden gets on the national ticket, O’Brien could wind up leaving Team Menendez, or at least taking a leave of absence.  And if Biden becomes Vice President, watch for O’Brien to drop Menendez quickly – either for an administration post, or for a lucrative private sector job with someone interested in influencing the Vice President of the United States.

Some House Democrats are touting stories that the Justice Department has awarded mega million dollar federal monitor contracts to oversee deferred prosecution agreements (dpas)to thirty politically connected former prosecutors and government officials as a fledgling scandal, but one key Senate Democrat says he hasn't heard about it yet.

U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-DE), a member (and former Chairman) of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was asked about a New York Times editorial and story on federal monitors and dpas at a press availability yesterday for Frank Lautenberg's re-election campaign.

“What monitors?” asked Biden.