Is McKeon on the endgangered list? Watson Coleman for Senate?

One of the likely casualties of the battle for the Senate Presidency will be Assemblyman John McKeon (D-West Orange), who is Richard Codey's (D-Roseland) closest ally in the Legislature.  Watch for the new leadership to punish McKeon, perhaps by taking away his chairmanship of the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee.  Democrats will argue that with the new Speaker coming from Essex, some of the more prestigious chairmanships might need to go elsewhere. 

Democrats most loyal to Gov. Jon Corzine are not big fans of McKeon, who took on the role of bashing Corzine during the few months in 2004 and 2005 when Codey and Corzine might have been competitors for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

McKeon, the Mayor of West Orange, has been widely viewed as the heir apparent to Codey's Senate seat.  With Codey apparently about to lose his post to Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford), the new leadership might be less than enthusiastic about seeing McKeon ascend to the Senate.  Sources suggest that Democrats might be open to moving West Orange (and perhaps Roseland, if Codey runs again) out of the district during the 2011 redistricting process.

Maybe Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris Twp.) will get his wish: the conservative Republican told PolitickerNJ.com last month that he would run against Codey if mapmakers created a competitive district that is at least half Morris County,

Another Codey ally on the chopping block is four-term State Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Lawrence).  Democrats might nudge Turner toward retirement so that Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman, the big loser in the deal that made Sweeney Senate President and Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) the Assembly Speaker, could move up to the Senate.