George Norcross

He cut an unprepossessing figure as he made the rounds of open bar fiestas and happy hours in Denver, hobnobbing with the governor here, buttonholing some bigshot fundraiser there.

He smiled through the whispers and rumors.

But at the Democratic National Convention last month, bad feelings inevitably saturated the atmosphere of powerhouse Bergen County Democratic Organization Chairman Joseph Ferriero, the man who likens the make-up of his county organization to the way the ingredients go together in Coca-Cola.

The news that FBI agents stormed his office came just days before the start of the convention, prompting state Democratic leaders to field uncomfortable questions about Ferriero even as they were packing their bags and hightailing it for the upscale Inverness Hotel.

State Party Chairman Joseph Cryan told the media he wouldn’t ask the embattled party boss to stay home, and so there was Ferriero in Denver.

Never a big fan of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the powerful Democratic Party boss backed Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) in the party’s presidential primary.

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews was re-nominated for another two-year term tonight in the 1st Congressional District, just five months after dropping off the ballot to challenge Sen. Frank Lautenberg in a primary. 

About 400 county committee members from Camden, Gloucester and Burlington Counties showed up to the meeting in Bellmawr, according to Andrews Chief of Staff Bill Caruso. 

DENVER - South Jersey Democratic Party leader George Norcross would not speculate on the specific public future of U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights), who’s due in at the Hotel Inverness this afternoon.

Andrews failed in his bid to oust U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) in the Democratic Primary earlier this year, and is now considering retiring to take a job at Goldman Sachs.

His wife, Camille, is holding his congressional seat amid talk out of South Jersey that Norcross’s younger brother, Donald, desires to make a run for the First Congressional District seat.

"What Rob and his family choose to do, I will support and advocate for his benefit," said Norcross. "Rob has to make that decision himself, and I don’t think he’s made that decision yet."

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, backing up Senate President Richard Codey's endorsement of Obama.

Obama Campaign State Director Mark Alexander knew it would be hard to pry Sen. Hillary Clinton’s supporters loose in New Jersey after her victory in New Hampshire.

This was a fight now, and Clinton’s people were solid.

"We have an opportunity here in Hudson - Hudson, Hispanics, Hillary and history," Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) cried to a North Bergen audience of mostly Latinos with Clinton on stage.

The response was near to deafening with Clinton standing on stage with Menendez, U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-13) and state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex).

But that didn’t mean there weren’t other opportunities for Obama; in fact, one big opportunity, in the form of Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex), who was at the moment glumly serving as state director for the foundering campaign of John Edwards.

Alexander knew Codey. He also knew Codey was close to former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ), who had come onto the Obama campaign as an advisor.

Anne Martindell (1914-2008) served in the New Jersey State Senate from 1974 to 1977.State Sen. Anne Martindell of Princeton, who died yesterday at 93, championed the underdog throughout a life marked by public service and a thirst for knowledge and self-improvement. In the words of her son, Princeton Councilman Roger Martindell, "she fought for what she believed in, and she was gracious in the fight."

Elected to the state Senate as a Democrat in 1973 as part of the Watergate backlash that landed a number of Democrats in the Statehouse to form a 28-12 Democratic majority, Martindell served one term before becoming President Jimmy Carter’s Ambassador to New Zealand.

In her eighties, she doubled back on the college career she never completed. Sixty-years after leaving Smith College following her freshman year, Martindell obtained her Bachelor’s degree from Smith and an honorary doctorate of law in 2002.

On Thursday, news of her death brought forth an outpouring of goodwill from those who knew her and those with whom she served in Trenton, including former Gov. Brendan T. Byrne.

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6) in Long Branch on Monday.

LONG BRANCH - U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone leads the way up to the top of the Windmill and considers a question regarding the main difference between U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg and his Democratic Primary challenger, U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews.

He doesn’t hesitate to take a shot.

Pallone’s in this fight, on Lautenberg’s side. All up and down Ocean Avenue and in other vital pockets of the 6th Congressional District stand lawn and street signs to that effect: "Lautenberg-Pallone. Vote June 3."

Andrews’s signs interface his rival’s with only one name on them: his own. And yet it’s the mention of Andrews’s longtime closeness with South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross III - the unseen figure in this race - that creates an opening for Pallone to draw what he considers a solid argument for Lautenberg.

Sen. President Richard Codey (D-Essex) in Newark with Mayor Cory Booker and Council President Mildred Crump.

ORANGE - Politics here invariably comes back to the state’s most popular politician, former governor and Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex), who grew up across the street from the city’s other favorite son, Two Ton Tony Galento.

"With Tony, what you saw was what you got," Codey recalls.

A rotund puncher who trained on spaghetti and beer, what that got Galento was a fourth round technical knockout at the hands of heavyweight champion Joe Louis, and a subsequent supporting role as a heavy in "On the Waterfront."

South Jersey Democrats threw a punch at Chris Myers today, just as the third district Republican congressional candidate was getting ready to hold a press conference hitting back at Jack Kelly, his Republican rival for the nomination.

Burlington County Democratic Chairman Rick Perr today slammed Myers as a “pawn” of Republican bosses for accepting money from the “Corrupt Burlington County GOP Machine.”

At issue are two donations that show up in Myers’s Federal Election Commission filings: $2,300 from former Burlington County Republican Chairman Glenn Paulsen, and $2,300 former Burlington County Bridge Commission Chairman J. Garfield DeMarco.

Earlier this week, Assemblyman Paul Moriarty announced that he wouldn’t stand for reelection for his other elected office: mayor of Washington Township (the one in Gloucester County).

The announcement came less than a week after Moriarty’s name surfaced as a potential replacement for first district Rep. Rob Andrews, who’s vacating the seat to take on incumbent Senator Frank Lautenberg in the June primary.

George Norcross, one of New Jersey's most powerful Democratic insiders, has endorsed Barack ObamaBarack Obama today picked up the support of two super delegates from New Jersey as several major Democratic leaders in South Jersey announced that they would switch their endorsements from Hillary Clinton to Obama. Super delegates Donald Norcross, who had previously been uncommitted, and State Sen. Dana Redd, who had backed Clinton, are now for Obama. This is a net pickup of two super delegates for Obama and a loss of one for Clinton.

Obama also won the backing of one of the state’s most powerful political insiders, George Norcross, and was endorsed by Clinton backers, including Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney, Democratic County Chairmen James Beach (Camden), Rick Perr (Burlington) and Michael Angelini (Gloucester), Camden Mayor Gwendolyn Faison, State Sen. Frederick Madden, and Assemblyman Paul Moriarty