Clinton

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.

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.

Studying international relations in Warsaw, Damian Bednarz says he took it on the chin over there on the issue of American Presidential politics, particularly when it came to the Bush and Clinton families.

“This one guy told me, ‘I thought you people threw out your kings in the revolution,’� Bednarz recalls. “‘Now you’re having it out between two families.’�

It was in part a reaction to the seeming Bush-Clinton strangulation hold on the presidency that drove Bednarz into the arms of Barack Obama.

Mostly, he says, it was the independent appeal of the freshman Senator from Illinois himself.

“Obama has something that Hillary Clinton can’t buy or reproduce, and that’s a sense of inspiration,� Bednarz says.

Bednarz, a 25-year-old international relations major at Seton Hall University’s Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations, knows he and New Jersey for Obama, the unofficial, grassroots campaign organization he runs, face a daunting challenge. With less than a year to go before the Democratic Primary here, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is dominating New Jersey the same way Rudy Giuliani appears to own Jersey for the Republicans.

Check out these stats from Quinnipiac University’s latest poll: Clinton leads Obama by 22 percentage points among registered Democrats, racking up 41 points to Obama’s 19.
Bednarz says that's all right.