JON CORZINE

U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-8), right, with U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ).: Politicker file photo 

On a regular basis now, Gov. Jon Corzine reminds audiences that he’s running for re-election. If he doesn’t end up running for whatever reason, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) says he wouldn’t mind personally stepping into the breach.

But whoever ends up out there on the barricade facing the GOP in a statewide race, Pascrell said his party should not fear likely Republican candidate U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, whom Quinnipiac University last week listed one point above the governor in a statistical tie - 41% to 40%.

Of his own gubernatorial run, "I would think about it very seriously," Pascrell said. "Right now I’m supporting the governor and I would urge him to run for re-election.

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo: Politicker photo

NEWARK - Joseph DiVincenzo knows the joke is coming, and he fields it with a grin - the one broadcaster Steve Adubato, Jr., has delivered for years about how DiVincenzo tried out for more than a half dozen NFL teams and got cut by every one of them.

The fact that Brett Favre is now taking snaps for the Jets sets up Adubato’s new punch line.

"He’s even older than Joe D," Adubato cracks and the roomful of politicians at the Breakers laughs, and DiVincenzo a moment later stands at the microphone, giving a nod to Essex County Democratic Chairman Phil Thigpen, who’s out there in the audience somewhere.

"I’m with Phil Thigpen, not Steve Adubato," DiVincenzo says, a playful poke at his leader, the junior Adubato’s father, who tried to oust Thigpen as chairman earlier this year but ran into a public objection by DiVincenzo, who wanted Thigpen to remain as chair.

DiVincenzo prevailed.

WEST ORANGE - Essex County Democratic Party Chairman Phil Thigpen, Gov. Jon Corzine and fellow party members huddled up in Pal’s Cabin this morning in a show of party unity as Team Essex heads into Denver in support of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il).

This is the second time in as many weeks that Corzine has gone to Pal’s to help focus party members on getting Obama elected president. Last week the governor met with members of the Group, the chief fundraising arm for Sen. Hillary Clinton, which is now committed to Obama.

"This one was much more about elected officials and the county party apparatus," said Mark Alexander, senior advisor for the Obama campaign. "There were town chairmen and women, all showing the unity of Obama and Clinton. This was about creating a unified force in the party."

Gov. Jon Corzine: Politicker file photoNEWARK - Hit with reporters’ questions here today about the business connections of his former chief of economic development, Gov. Jon Corzine said he did not know when he selected him that Gary D. Rose had a financial stake in the Xanadu Meadowlands project.

Corzine himself had close ties to a private firm behind the large-scale East Rutherford development - envisioned as a $2 billion pleasure dome of shops and entertainment hot-spots and slated to open next year.

In his capacity as economic chief, Rose helped facilitate a privately funded bailout of the once-floundering project, even as he owned stock in a company that stood to lose over a billion dollars, according to The Record reporters Jeff Pilletts and John Reitmeyer.

Rose left the Corzine administration in June.

Gov. Jon Corzine, former Gov. Brendan T. Byrne, Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, and Senate President Richard Codey: Politicker photo

NEWARK - On a ridiculously hot day in which many other public speakers might have sent the brow-mopping audience on a premature beeline for the nearest watering hole, former Gov. Brendan T. Byrne regaled his willing audience with charm and one-liners.

"Everything else I asked for, but I didn’t ask for this," said Byrne, before officially accepting the honor bestowed by the Essex County Freeholders and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, and before he pulled the American flag off a stone fixture in a plaza named after him.

"When my kids used to visit me here, I used to put them in jail, and that taught them to stay on the straight and narrow," he cracked.

Gov. Jon Corzine, left, and former Gov. Brendan T. Byrne today in Newark.: Politicker photo

NEWARK - The presence of a beloved former anything in the world of politics invariably intensifies public scrutiny where it concerns that person’s successor, especially when that successor is currently in office.

So an Essex County favorite son, the 84-year old former Gov. Brendan Byrne standing beside Gov. Jon Corzine before a packed audience of county diehards today, created myriad opportunities for parallels.

On this day, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo’s unveiled the Gov. Brendan T. Byrne Plaza, honoring the former county prosecutor and governor with his own local monument.

"Because of everything he stood for," DiVincenzo said of Byrne, who served as governor from 1974-1982. "Because he stood for doing the right thing. Whether it was with (raising) the income tax or the Meadowlands, he always did the right thing."

Then DiVincenzo introduced Corzine, who would introduce Byrne.

Steve Adubato, Jr., presides over a meeting between Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, center, and Sen. Joseph Kyrillos.: Politicker photo 

SPRING LAKE - They drove and were driven to the Irish Riviera from all corners of New Jersey, in cars with government plates on them and dark SUVs and sedans with tinted glass, sporting sunglasses and paunches covered with sports jackets, mostly Democrats and a handful of Republicans, converging on this mansion by the sea.

Congressmen and mayors and assembly people and state senators and opposition researchers and retainers.

Standing at the front of the Seashell Dining Room in the Breakers to greet them was Steve Adubato, wearing a Hawaiian shirt and welcoming smile - and casting an eye that invariably sharpens human activity into the lineaments of political theater.

"I believe in the luck of the Irish," said the executive director of Newark’s North Ward Center and head of the Democratic Party in the North Ward, facing a sun-filled room packed with rivals hunched over plates of eggs and bacon: Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican State Party Chairman Tom Wilson; former Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, and Assemblyman Albert Coutinho and Assemblwoman Grace Spencer; Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo and Assemblyman Thomas Giblin (D-Montclair).

In this poor man’s Olympiad of Jersey ethnic groups gathered under one roof, Adubato highlighted - as he does annually at this North Ward Center-sponsored breakfast - the Irish, who now number 141,379 registered voters in New Jersey, or 47,514 Democrats, 36,063 Republicans and 57,802 independents.

Gov. Jon Corzine and biotech businessman John Crowley: Politicker photo

CRANBURY - Although their meeting might have lacked the hype of a heavyweight fight buildup - mostly because it is unknown if they will ever square off - Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican biotech millionaire John Crowley shook hands today like respectful would-be rivals with private industry street cred.

"Not all of life is about politics," Corzine told reporters after participating in a ceremony at Crowley's company, Amicus Therapeutics, which in its sixth year of operation today celebrated the hiring of its 100th employee.

"We've come a long way from the incubator on Route 1," said Crowley, standing earlier at the boardroom podium in his sprawling, hi-tech Cranbury complex, facing Corzine in the front row.

The governor attended as Crowley's guest, a nod to the fact that Amicus became the first graduate of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority's (EDA) Commercialization Center for Innovative Technologies, and exemplifies the kind of biotech development Corzine champions.

CRANBURY - Gov. Jon Corzine will speak at Amicus Therapeutics' "100th Employee" celebration here later this morning to help celebrate a thriving New Jersey business in a difficult economy.

The intriguing political context of his appearance is that Amicus Therapeutics was founded - and is owned and operated - by Republican John Crowley of Princeton, a potential challenger to Corzine in 2009. 

Nearly the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate as he flirted with running last spring, Crowley has been making the Republican circuit, and is considered by some party insiders to be a potential establishment favorite if U.S. Attorney Chris Christie stumbles. 

Obama backer Michael Passante, right, and North Ward Democratic leader Steve Adubato, who supported Clinton in the primary.: Politicker photo

WEST ORANGE - A group of onetime Hillary Clinton fundraisers today committed to raising dollars for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, according to a release issued by Richard McGrath, spokesman of the Democratic State Committee.

"Democrats in New Jersey are unifying behind Barack Obama in every way under the leadership of Governor Corzine," said party chairman Joe Cryan. "We are supporting him with financial resources, political organization and grass roots activism. We are one party behind one candidate. This commitment from these top fundraisers is another big step towards victory in November."

Those who breakfasted with Gov. Jon Corzine and Cryan at Pal’s Cabin included Obama State Director Tricia Mueller, and Obama Policy Director Mark Alexander. Joining them were about ten former Clinton backers, each of whom pledged to raise $10,000 or more within the next few days, said Cryan.