BOB DECHEINE

Sources in the Barack Obama campaign say that veteran Newark operative Pablo Fonseca "is in the mix" to serve as political director for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

Fonseca works as Newark Mayor Cory Booker's chief of staff.

Last month, the campaign selected labor leader Tricia Mueller as the campaign's state director, and Bob Decheine, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-Fair lawn), as senior advisor. 

Since last year, Booker has served as co-chair of the Obama campaign in New Jersey, along with Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy. 

Bob Decheine, left, and U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman in Teaneck today.: Politicker photoTEANECK - Among those backing up U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-Fair Lawn) at today’s press conference on the eve of Sen. John McCain’s (D-Ariz.) visit stood Bob Decheine, Rothman’s chief of staff.

Decheine was in the running to be Obama’s state director, a contest he ultimately lost to union leader Tricia Mueller.

But as chief of the only member of New Jersey’s congressional delegation who endorsed Obama in the Democratic Primary, Decheine landed a position with the campaign as senior advisor.

"This is a big job we have to get done," Decheine told PolitickerNJ.com.

He said he appreciated the opportunity to meet Mueller for the first time when the new state director went to Washington last month to meet with Decheine in person.

Obama State Director Tricia Mueller: Politicker photo

HAMILTON - Politics and union organizing weld into one for Tricia Mueller, the new state director for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.

Granddaughter of a Local 19 sheet metal worker or "tin knocker" as they're called in building and trades, Mueller first started working campaigns for her father, a telephone installer who served as the youngest mayor of Oaklyn, New Jersey.

"I could read a ward map from the time I was very small," said the 34-year old Camden native and chief political operative for the 17,000-strong New Jersey Regional Council of Carpenters, as she sat in a Hamilton coffee shop on Thursday, three days into her tenure as Obama's state director.

"I come from the field," she told PolitickerNJ.com. "I believe voter contact, voter mobilization, and voter education represent civic duty at its finest."

The Obama campaign announced today that Tricia Mueller, the political director for the New Jersey Regional Council of Carpenters, will serve as state Director of Obama’s New Jersey campaign. Bob Decheine, the Chief of Staff to Rep. Steve Rothman, will serve as a senior advisor to the campaign. 

Sources close to the Barack Obama campaign say that there will be roles in the New Jersey campaign for Rep. Steve Rothman’s Chief of Staff, Bob Decheine, and for Bill Matsikoudis, the top lawyer for Jersey City Mayor/Hudson County Democratic Chairman Jerramiah Healy.  Obama selected Tricia Mueller, the political director for the carpenters union, to run his N.J. operation.

Barack Obama's presidential campaign is expected to announce today that Tricia Mueller, the national political director of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, will serve as New Jersey state director.

Gov. Jon Corzine today in Newark: Politicker photo

NEWARK - It’s less than four months until Election Day and the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il) still does not have a New Jersey state director.

"It’s not a problem," Gov. Jon Corzine insisted today in the Ironbound, a sentiment echoed by Obama backers who point out that there are nine paid staffers operating in New Jersey right now, and that fewer than six states are equipped with directors at this point.

"I’ve been in contact with the Obama campaign," the governor told PolitickerNJ.com. "They can make up their minds and come to their decision. Until (last) Friday they hadn’t talked to the people (candidates)."

The favorites for the New Jersey job remain Bob Decheine, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9); and Patricia A. Mueller, chief of staff for the New Jersey Regional Council of Carpenters, whose interfacing entrenchments unavoidably suggest that old political divide between north and south Jersey.

In picking a state director to run operations in New Jersey, the Obama Campaign in Chicago will choose between a congressman's chief of staff, and a labor chief friendly with the governor's administration, according to Democratic Party sources.

For several days, internal talks have gone on between Gov. Jon Corzine, members of the State Committee, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and members of the Congressional delegation about a same-page choice for State Director of the Obama Campaign.

It's come down to two names.

In the running are Bob Decheine, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9); and Patricia A. Mueller, chief of staff, New Jersey Regional Council of Carpenters.

A Northeast Regional co-chair for the Obama campaign who was the only member of New Jersey's congressional delegation to endorse Obama during the Democratic Primary, Rothman has pressed vigorously in the last few weeks for his chief to get the job.

U.S. Rep. Steve RothmanWhen most of his Democratic colleagues endorsed backyard darling Hillary Clinton for president over a year ago, U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-9) cut from the pack and picked Illinoisan underdog Barack Obama.

The Obama campaign rewarded Rothman with a position as northeast regional co-chair and through a long-slog primary he played a leading and aggressive role on behalf of his presidential candidate.

Now that Obama has beaten Clinton, Rothman enjoys a point position in the general election campaign here in New Jersey as former Clinton travelers realign behind Obama and acknowledge Rothman’s win.

"To the victor go the spoils," a congressional staffer said with a shrug in his voice.

In that vein, the Bergen lawmaker told Obama’s people in Chicago that he wants his chief of staff, Bob Decheine, running the New Jersey-based campaign headquarters in advance of the Nov. 4th showdown with presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

Bob Decheine probably wouldn’t know how to get from Haworth to Hawthorne, but he’s very much in control of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in New Jersey. His power comes from his day job as Chief of Staff to Congressman Steven Rothman, who has emerged as the leader of the state Obama campaign. And Rothman’s lead in a PolitickerNJ.com online poll of which New Jersey Democrat has the most political power today appears to be the result of Obama’s surge as a national candidate.