Don't expect bicycle rides or other politics unusual today (sigh). Voters in Newark are at the polls choosing their next mayor - and for the first time in 20 years, it won't be Sharpe James. It's no Street Fight, but former councilman Cory Booker, who has a sizeable following in Baristaville, faces off with state senator and former deputy mayor Ronald L. Rice. Businessman David Blount,  and Socialist Worker's Party candidate Nancy Rosenstock are also on the ballot. Here's how the candidates spent the end of their respective campaigns. From The Star Ledger:

Booker spent most of the day in meetings and giving interviews to media members outside his Central Ward headquarters on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. He talked about the changes he plans to make in a city that has seen marked improvements in t he last 20 years but still struggles with basic issues such as safety and providing services to residents.

Rice dashed around the city and continued to characterize Booker as an inexperienced outsider who will be in debt to the campaign donors who gave him a record $6 million. Rice says he wrote many of the laws Booker wants to use to improve the city. Why not hire the man who wrote them? Rice has asked.

May 9, 2006 in Current Affairs | Permalink