Monday, May 8, 8:33 PM: Cory got his sound bites out with “this interview”:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5391513 with NPR reporter ??Nancy Solomon?? on All Things Considered. Newsvine also has an Associated Press story, “Newark to Elect 1st New Mayor in Decades”:http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2006/05/08/190995-newark-to-elect-1st-new-mayor-in-decades.
Tuesday, May 9, 8:07 AM: The ??Battle for Newark Blog??: the “polls are open”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139049, get out the vote! Mayor James still “will not be silent”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139048 about the election. And what will Cory do when he “wins the election”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#138988?
Asked what was the first thing he planned to do if he wins, Booker replied coyly, “The electric slide.”
The slide is a James specialty. He’s been pictured doing the boogie, woogie, woogie on several occasions during his time as mayor.
“Ever since Sharpe said I wasn’t black enough, I’ve been trying to get the electric slide down,” Booker joked.
Tuesday, May 9, 9:35 AM: Voted this morning on the way into the office, just in time to see a drove of volunteers in Booker t-shirts cross Ferry Street. On the way to the booth, I had one Booker Team door hanger on my car, saw dozens of signs for Amador and Linhares — who seem to have papered anything in the Ironbound that was securely fastened to the sidewalk — and was handed another Booker flyer on the way through the door. Several volunteers had staked out the “Wilson Avenue School”:http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=school,+wilson+ave,+newark,+nj&ll=40.735551,-74.165096&spn=0.036095,0.054245&om=1 with signs and flyers calling out campaign slogans in Portuguese and English. There was no sign of any Rice supporters — but I’m not sure if they’ve written off the East Ward as a Booker holdout.
Tuesday, May 9, 9:51 AM: ??Damien Cave?? from the ??Newark06?? blog caught up with “Councillor”:http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rv_cmp/rv_bios_west.html, er, Cornell West, who is “campaigning this year for a Booker opponent”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=188. You may remember that Professor West was prominently featured as a Booker advocate during the 2002 campaign in Marshall Curry’s documentary Street Fight. On the Newark Speaks forum, the “aforementioned drama”:http://blog.newarker.info/2006/05/08/big-day-tomorrow/ begins “to unfold”:http://newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2208.
Tuesday, May 9, 10:28 AM: “Booker votes”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139098. “James votes”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139159. Still no sign of Rice. The folks at the Star Ledger ??Battle for Newark?? blog are doing an excellent job today — they’ve been on the campaign trail since early this morning, and have been blogging every half hour, it seems. I’ve been punching the Refresh button on their page like a mouse hitting the feed bar. More sobering, a “double homicide”:http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=4155444 was reported last night, again highlighting just what’s at stake in this election.
Tuesday, May 9, 11:10 AM: ??Damien Cave?? and ??Nate Schweber?? for the ??Newark06?? blog: “Peach Cobbler and Beyond”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=190. A story by Associated Press reporter ??Janet Frankston?? has been “making the rounds”:http://news.google.com/news?tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&ncl=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/09/AR2006050900268.html&hl=en&scoring=d through the press. Here is the “Washington Post version”:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/09/AR2006050900268.html. The County Superintendant of Elections “fields some complaints”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139185 about missteps by campaigners, but nothing major. By the way, has anyone seen Mr. Rice yet? 
Tuesday, May 9, 12:19 PM: ??Brad Parks?? for the ??Battle for Newark?? blog, “Rice campaign running out of steam?”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139203 Seems as though the Rice team is already running out of promotional materials. Ah, and “here’s Ron Rice”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139218.
Tuesday, May 9, 2:20 PM: After some silence on the blog front for a couple hours (lunch?), this comes in from ??Josh Benson?? at the ??Newark06?? blog, “Turnout Heavy in Booker Territory, Light in James Territory”:http://newark06.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=191. According to Rutgers-Newark historian Clement Price, turnout will be a truer indicator of Mr. Booker’s appeal to Newarkers than whether or not he defeats State Senator Ronald L. Rice in today’s election.
And, from ??Wally Edge??, if Booker wins tonight, he could be the “front-runner for NJ state governor in 2013″:http://politics.nexcess.net/insideedge/2006/05/booker_13.html.
Tuesday, May 9, 3:16 PM: The ??Battle for Newark?? on the “mid-day lunch break”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139300. On Newark Speaks, ??Maximus?? paints a Hegelian picture of the Cory Booker/Sharpe James struggle for power in Newark with “Who Made Booker”:http://newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2215.
Tuesday, May 9, 5:40 PM: Seems that the vote today has been pretty quiet. Rumors “are circulating”:http://newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2219 that the turnout in the South Ward has been slow, though the candidates have been “trading barbs”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139364 over signage in the area. Voter fraud has been “practically nonexistant”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139378 in the race so far, with nowhere near the amount of turmoil we saw in 2002. The race is heading into its final push as poll workers expect voters to finish work at 6 PM and head to the polls. The polls close at 8 PM tonight.
Tuesday, May 9, 8:14 PM: The polls are closed, and ??Gregory Washington?? of the ??Battle for Newark?? blog says we can have the results “as early as 8:10 PM”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139425. I’m tuned into WBGO, but nothing yet.
Tuesday, May 9, 8:34 PM: WBGO notes that if Booker has a run-off tonight that it would be a disaster for his campaign — to have Newark’s trust, as Clement Price noted at the 2:20 PM update here, Booker will not just have to win, but win big. I want to know the results as soon as they come in, but if I have to listen to _one more plea for money_ from WBGO, I think I’m going to freak out.
Tuesday, May 9, 9:07 PM: Results are starting to roll in. I switched over to “1010wins”:http://www.1010wins.com/ for updates — there’s advertising, but not as bad as this fund drive. Anyway, “50 of 168 districts reporting”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139461:
Mayor race update - 50 districts
With 50 out of 168 districts reporting for MayorDavid Blount 498
Nancy Rosenstock 73
Cory Booker 8,961
Ronald Rice 2,597
Not looking so good for Mr. Rice, who is “hoping for a runoff”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139464.
Tuesday, May 9, 9:30 PM: “120 of 168 districts reporting”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139475.
Mayor update - 120 districts
With 120 of 168 districts reporting for MayorDavid Blount 1,309
Nancy Rosenstock 175
Cory Booker 23,146
Ronald Rice 7,000
Tuesday, May 9, 10:00 PM: The ??Battle for Newark?? blog reports on a random visit from John Corzine to…”Ron Rice’s campaign headquarters”:http://www.nj.com/newslogs/mayorsrace/index.ssf?/mtlogs/njo_mayorrace/archives/2006_05.html#139492!?
About 9:20 p.m. a caravan of black Crown Victorias came to Ron Rice’s headquarters on Broad Street and out came Governor Jon Corzine. He walked in with his bodyguards, shook a few people’s hands and when asked what he was doing there, he answered, “I’m just going to make an impression of support to Ron Rice.”
Er, a little late for that, isn’t it?
