Jerramiah Healy

Jersey City Mayor and Hudson County Democratic Organization Chairman Jerramiah Healy said that he’s sticking with incumbent Frank Lautenberg if he faces a primary challenge from Rep. Rob Andrews.

Healy pointed to 2002, when Lautenberg stepped in to replace ethically troubled incumbent Sen. Robert Toricelli on the ballot.

A poll showing Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy’s approval rating at 71% has two of his rivals skeptical.

Former Assemblyman Lou Manzo and Jersey City Councilman Steve Fulop are both considering making a bid for the seat in 2009. And based on what they’ve seen across town, they don’t believe it’s possible for Healy to have an approval rating of 71%, or a favorability rating of 66%.

“Taxes are up 35%, crime is still an issue. A reasonable person would ask if that poll is valid,” said Fulop. “It was likely conducted at the Astor Bar between the hours of 11(p.m.) and (2a.m.) – then it would make sense.”

The Hudson County peace agreement was meant to be formalized in Jersey City today, with virtually every major elected official in the county coming together the put the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO) together again.

This morning, citing scheduling conflicts among several officials, the HCDO postponed the event to an unscheduled time next week. But multiple sources say that the real reason the presser was cancelled was because the most important player – Union City Mayor and State Sen. Brian Stack – refused to attend.

Hudson County Democratic Organization Executive Director Craig Guy said, however, that Stack did not refuse to attend the press conference.

As news stations projected Sen. Hillary Clinton beating Sen. Barack Obama in New Jersey, Obama supporters at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in West Orange tried to fight off their disappointment.

U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman praised Obama's gutsy performance and reminded the candidate's supporters that few gave the Illinois senator a chance when he began his campaign.

"We had a huge turnout in Jersey City," said Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who questioned the performance of new voting machines in his city.

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy has been to several polling places today, and he thinks the turnout bodes well for Barack Obama. 

Healy, who endorsed Obama in May, said he visited a polling place in the city’s younger, more gentrified downtown section today and said turnout was high.  It was also high, he said, in Ward F – where much of the city’s African-American community lives.

On the eve of the New Jersey presidential primary and with most polls showing his rival trying to maintain a slight lead here, Sen. Barack Obama made a last stop in the Garden State today, telling voters that his message of hope is not one of naivete but of common purpose.

With Sen. Ted Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy in the house at the Meadowlands Arena today, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, state co-chair of the Barack Obama presidential campaign, recalls seeing President John F. Kennedy 48 years ago at Journal Square.

Senate President Richard Codey at the Wilshire Grand Hotel todayAfter getting one question cleared up in the affirmative with Sen. Barack Obama, Senate President and former Governor Richard Codey today officially endorsed Obama for president at a press conference in his hometown of West Orange.

"What’s the skinny on the fact that you’re part Irish?" Codey said he asked Obama in a 10 minute conversation with the presidential candidate this morning, six days before the Feb. 5 primary.

"I am," Obama told him.

"Is that on your father’s side?" Codey cracked.

"It’s O’bama," Senator Loretta Weinberg informed the Senate President.

Barack Obama may have rallied thousands of Jersey City residents on Mayor Jerramiah Healy's turf last week, but the Hillary Clinton campaign sought to make one thing clear today: the bulk of Hudson County public officials are with them, even if Healy, the mayor of the county's biggest city and chairman of its party, is not.

Governor Jon S. Corzine and Sen. Bob Menendez headlined a press conference today at The Turning Point restaurant in their hometown of Hoboken, emceed by Democratic State Chairman Joe Cryan and attended by over two dozen elected officials, at least a few of whom occupy different sides of the Hudson County Democratic split.

And while Clinton wasn't there today, Menendez promised that she would be in New Jersey before the February 5th.

Barack Obama at a Jersey City campaign rally
More than 3,000 people packed a gym at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City on Wednesday to hear Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

"My voice is a little hoarse, my eyes are a little bleary, my back is a little sore, but my spirit is strong," he told the crowd. "And I am ready to bring about change in America, how about you?"

Obama reveled in his Jersey City audience, and his campaign staff urged the impassioned crowd to take a more active role in the February 5 primary in a state where Hillary Clinton has won most of the party establishment endorsements and maintains a double digit lead in independent polls.