Democratic National Convention

DENVER -- No matter how Democrats handle the roll call vote question, Hillary Clinton’s former New Jersey campaign director says she knows who she’s voting for.

“I’m voting for Senator Obama on the first ballot,” said Karen Kominsky, who headed up Clinton’s successful New Jersey primary campaign.

Kominsky has actually been volunteering for Obama for the last several months. She even ran a door-to-door Obama operation from her house in Lambertville.

DENVER -- Assemblywoman Joan Quigley (D-Jersey City) is candid about her feelings on the upcoming Jersey City mayoral race.

She’s with Mayor Jerramiah Healy. Not that it’s unusual, considering he’s chairman of the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO). She wasn’t in 2004, however, when he ran to replace the late Glen Cunningham.

“He was a dark horse at that point and I didn’t know him well,” she said. And while his status as the head of the powerful Democratic organization could certainly win him friends, Quigley said that’s not the reason.

“I learned to like him a lot better before that happened.”

DENVER -- State Sen. Bob Gordon (D-Fair Lawn) said he can’t comment on the timing of the FBI’s raid on Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joe Ferriero’s law offices just last week, but after emerging from watching Sen. Bob Menendez speaking at this morning’s delegate breakfast, he couldn’t help but draw a parallel.

“We just listened to Bob Menendez and I was reminded of the U.S. Attorney’s office filing subpoenas and investigating him a matter of weeks before his election,” he said.

Ferriero is in town for the convention, but it’s hard to find him. He’s been laying low, appearing at few public events, although he did show up at the delegation’s downtown party last night.

Gordon actually owes his ascendance from the Assembly to the Senate in part to both U.S. Attorney Chris Christie and Ferriero. If Christie hadn’t investigated former State Sen. Joe Coniglio, which ultimately resulted in an indictment, Coniglio wouldn’t have been pressured to resign his seat. And it was Ferriero whose endorsement virtually assured that Gordon would replace Coniglio.

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, won't speak at the convention: Getty Images Photo
DENVER -- Senator Bob Menendez will not speak at the Pepsi Center during the Democratic National Convention, despite the lobbying by fellow influential New Jersey politicians on his behalf.

Menendez was the New Jersey’s delegation’s hope to place one of their own in the spotlight. Politicians were banking on his Latino appeal.

When asked by reporters whether he felt snubbed, Menendez responded said that he didn’t.

“The bottom line is, look, different conventions, different people speak. Speaking is not important. Winning is important.”

Check back tomorrow morning to view my sketchpad for day two of the Democratic National Convention, and go to my national blog to follow convention coverage by cartoonists from around the country.

DENVER -- Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden) said that members of the unofficial legislative committee figuring out how to salvage the Clean Elections program have met at least once and are “rolling up their sleeves to do everything they can to keep the program.”

Clean Elections faces a potential constitutional hurdle and the fierce opposition of conservatives, who went looking for what they called a “secret” committee meeting. Conservative activist Steve Lonegan’s Americans for Prosperity even made a video documenting their search for the committee’s meeting.

Although Roberts convened the committee, he doesn’t know where they met either (he’s not actually a member).

“It might have been somewhere in the statehouse.”

It’s tough to get anything on the record about Rep. Rob Andrews’s replacement from Camden County Democrats. 

Sitting in the New Jersey delegation’s front row at the Pepsi Center tonight, Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts (D-Camden) cautioned that the news that Andrews is interviewing with Goldman Sachs still doesn’t mean he’s definitely not running again, despite his own repeated refusal to do so.

“I’m not aware that Congressman Andrews has made a decision.”

Former President Jimmy Carter at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this evening: Getty Images Photo
When former president Jimmy Carter took the stage for a brief appearance at the Democratic National Convention, most delegates leapt to their feet and cheered.

Noticeably silent and still were a few Jewish delegates from New Jersey, who stayed in their seats.

Although at least two of them have a reputation as being quite liberal, they had a problem with Carter’s views on Israel, and most notably the book he penned on the subject: Palestine Peace Not Apartheid.

DENVER -- Already embroiled in the preludes to what’s certain to be a hold-no-punches mayoral battle next year, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s allies tonight at the Pepsi Center said they hope to be able to pull an Obama card before the May election.

Healy supported Barack Obama early on, though his endorsement is often overshadowed by Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s endorsement.

Does Healy want Obama to come campaign for him? Of course. But is that actually a realistic possibility if Obama becomes president?

Carl Czaplicki, Healy’s former chief of staff and the current director of the Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce, (and former executive director of the Hudson County Republican organization) thinks it’s not that far-fetched.

“I wouldn’t consider it a long shot. A number of times already he’s shown his willingness to come to New Jersey and Jersey City on two or three occasions,” said Czaplicki, who sat just a couple rows in front of State Sen. Sandra B. Cunningham, another prospective mayoral candidate.