Hillary Clinton

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.

The wholesale absorption of Hillary Clinton’s best and brightest campaign advisers has begun. In the weeks since Mrs. Clinton officially suspended her candidacy, the Obama campaign has recruited the services of the Clinton campaign’s director of national security, Lee Feinstein, as well as foreign-policy advisers Mara Rudman, the deputy national security advisor under Bill Clinton; Robert Einhorn, a former assistant secretary for nonproliferation at the State Department; and Stuart Eizenstat, an international-trade specialist who was policy director for Jimmy Carter’s 1976 campaign.

ZANESVILLE, Ohio -- U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) toured the Eastside Community Ministry earlier on Tuesday before announcing his new plan to expand federal faith-based charity initiatives, loosely modeled on President Bush's programs of the past eight years.

But Obama admitted he hasn't been in this area of Ohio enough but said he's competitive against U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Obama Campaign State Director Mark Alexander. 

The campaign was about to change.

On Oct, 9, 2007, an announcement came down from Chicago regarding New Jersey operations. 

Mark Alexander, a Seton Hall University law professor and Obama’s senior policy advisor, would be the campaign’s official state director.

"I am grateful that he is going to carry the fight forward to and through the Feb. 5 contests," Obama said of Alexander. "He is a valued and trusted advisor, and at the same time has deep ties in his home of New Jersey that will be invaluable to our efforts. 

"I am proud of the policy work we have done on this campaign and through Mark’s leadership we have built a team of key advisors from the ground up that will continue to offer new and innovative approaches to the challenges this country faces," added the presidential candidate.

A personal friend of Barack and Michelle Obama’s going back a dozen years, Alexander as a child worked on the 1974 Washington, D.C. mayoral campaign of his father, Clifford Alexander, former chairman of the Equal Opportunity Commission. Later, he ran Sen. Bill Bradley’s 2000 presidential campaign and served as counsel to Cory Booker.

Nobody ever said Gov. Ed Rendell took things sitting down.

The governor has formed a grassroots group for Democrats who, while disappointed by U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-N.Y.) defeat, plan to support U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Called Hillary-Obama-United-Not-Divided, or HOUND, it was created in response to a group called PUMA, short for Party unity, my ass. That group seeks to dissuade former Clinton supporters from voting for Obama.

The governor, who was one of Clinton's most high-profile supporters, wrote the group's credo, which appears on the state Democrats' Web site. Rendell wrote that former Clinton supporters should vote for Obama not because of party loyalty, but because his policies are nearly identical to hers.

UNITY, N.H. -- U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) told her Granite State supporters to support her former rival in the general election.

Clinton was appearing with U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) at a unity event in Unity.

It’s difficult to find a Clinton supporter who was as stout during theJohn F.X. Graham primary as New Jersey fund-raiser John F.X. Graham, who took his presidential candidate’s loss especially hard.

One of the key members of "the Group" - a conglomerate of Hillary Clinton champions with deep pockets and access to donors with even deeper ones - Graham found it particularly tough to stand at attention within the ranks of Obama backers when the Clinton campaign finally raised the white flag.

In an interview with PolitickerNJ.com two weeks ago, the fund-raiser in fact cringed at the idea of making an easy transition to the team of Clinton’s conqueror.

Leading fundraisers for former Democratic presidential primary rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton met this week at a Denver law office, the Rocky Mountain News reported Friday.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, an early Obama supporter rumored to be a potential vice-presidential pick, also attended the meeting, held at the law offices of Willie Shepherd, the Rocky reported.

While Hillary Clinton was endorsing Barack Obama, a supporter of hers was chanting "VP Hillary."

Also, can be seen, right in front of the CNN camera, are two people holding Hillary Clinton for President signs.

The Obama campaign is tagging the audience at 4,000 people but it looks more like 2,500 people.

LOUISVILLE -- Arguing against the speculation of many pundits, Kentucky state AFL-CIO president Bill Londrigan told PolitickerKY.com the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), is connecting with many in the Bluegrass State -- including members of his labor coalition.

Rejecting the notion that Obama would struggle with white, working-class voters in the state because of his race, Londrigan said AFL-CIO membership was "a lot more likely to vote for Obama" as he "represents real change, no matter what color he is."

"People are writing off the electorate, but a lot of people are supporting Obama," Londrigan said.

Obama's opponent in Kentucky's May 20 Democratic primary, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) won the state by more than 35 points. Londrigan, however, pointed to Obama's successes as evidence of the Illinois senator's potential in the state.