Jun Choi

DENVER -- As one of the younger faces in the New Jersey delegation, Jun Choi, 37, insists this year will be different: instead of paying lip service to the Democratic candidate, young people will actually come out to vote for Barack Obama. 

More than they came out for Bill Clinton in 1992.  And certainly more than the lackluster youth vote for John Kerry in 2004. 

“The difference between Obama and past candidates is that Barack’s leadership inspired a movement that has excited a whole new generation of young people to get involved in politics,” said Choi while attending a party sponsored by a lobbying/public relations firm. 

They don’t look alike, aren’t the same gender, and they’re generations apart. 

But Democratic National Committeewoman June Fisher, 76 and Edison Mayor Jun Choi, 37, were kindred spirits as they took in the Democratic National Convention next to each othher tonight as the “two Jun(e)s”, and joked that – seriously, sort of -- they have a lot in common. 

“Besides sharing a great name, we’re both die-hard Democrats,” said Choi.

Fisher’s first convention was 1972, when she watched George McGovern accept the Democratic presidential nomination.  She’s been to every one since.  Choi’s first was 2000, when he watched Al Gore accept the nomination.  He’s been to every one since then. 

They both hope that this time will turn out better. 

EDISON - Diners anchor what’s left of the train-track and warehouseEdison Mayor Jun Choi: Politicker file photo girded countryside in this sprawling town, fifth biggest in New Jersey, where Mayor Jun Choi drinks his coffee on a summer morning in one of the more recognizable roadside haunts called the Plaza Diner.

The suit and tie and modest demeanor belie a man restlessly at work, for if Choi was an enigmatic upstart when he hit the scene three years ago, he has built himself into a surging political force more than midway into his first term.

"And I’m running again," he says with a smile.

The Edison-raised kid who came from the inner sanctum of Bill Bradley’s machine-bucking 2000 presidential campaign, former state Department of Education wonk, Choi remains the Democratic Party outsider in a party that still does not know quite what to do with him.

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.

NJ for Obama organizers Julie Diaz and Keith Hovey.

The Obama campaign started small here, with handfuls of coffee house organizers lining up behind a grassroots operation called NJ for Obama in the face of a big party machine backing Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), and an unpopular war in Iraq.

Founded in an Edison coffee shop in December of 2006, the group’s leader was Damian Bednarz, 25, a Master’s student in international relations with Seton Hall University’s Whitehead School of Diplomacy.

"Obama has something that Hillary Clinton can’t buy or reproduce, and that’s a sense of inspiration," said Bednarz. "If anything, I’m encouraged by Clinton’s frontrunner status because I know our work is so special."

Some elected officials simultaneously or in the weeks following endorsed the Illinois senator, among them Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union) and state Sen. John Adler (D-Camden).

"At this time we need someone special... someone who is going to build a bridge brick by brick to peace through negotiation," said Cohen, a graduate of Howard University who arrived at politics through the Civil Rights era.