Despite the overwhelming victory of Sen. Barack Obama in Union County (see table at bottom), Obama did not win Plainfield on November 4.
Barack Obama won Plainfield on the first Tuesday in February, in New Jersey's Democratic presidential primary.
November's victory is the icing on the cake, the fruition of the hopes and hard work that began long before the political establishment climbed on the bandwagon.
And credit should be given where credit is due.
It was Councilor Rashid Burney and like-minded Union County residents, including Plainfield's 'New Democrats' who jump-started Obama's hopes in New Jersey, Union County in particular.
Burney's activism was frowned on at the time by Union County's Democratic political leadership, who were solidly lined up behind Hillary Clinton and remained so until she bowed out of the race. That he and the New Democrats were first in support takes nothing away from all those who worked so hard for the Obama victory in the general election, but it does put that victory into its correct perspective.
And that would have to include crediting the late Mayor Al McWilliams, who first had the vision of 'change we can believe in' for Plainfield, and to whom Councilor Burney and others owe their chance to make their mark in public service.
Councilor Burney's first public service was
election to the Democratic City Committee in 2003.
Thank you, Rashid. Thank you also, all who worked for Barack Obama's success.
And thank you, Al McWilliams, for believing in positive change for Plainfield before anyone else had the vision.
President
438/438 100.00%
Complete Union County results for all races and public questions are here.
Under Votes 1349
Over Votes 0
Vote Count Percent Dem - BARACK OBAMA 132,006 63.45% Rep - JOHN McCAIN 73,967 35.56% VOT - JEFFREY BOSS 74 0.04% LIB - BOB BARR 412 0.20% Ind - RALPH NADER 921 0.44% GRE - CYNTHIA McKINNEY 140 0.07% SOC - BRIAN MOORE 20 0.01% SOC - GLORIA La RIVA 17 0.01% CON - CHUCK BALDWIN 159 0.08% SOC - ROGER CALERO 23 0.01% Personal Choice 292 0.14% Total 208,031 100.00%
-- Dan Damon
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2 comments:
So is Burney acknowledging the New Democrats again? He won his first election because of the support of Al McWilliams and the hard work of the New Democrats and then when Al lost his write-in campaign, Burney and others whose political careers were started by Al snuggled up with Jerry Green and the soon-to-be ex-mayor Sharon. Is Burney coming back? I had questions about him, but I think he knows that he will not win a contested Democratic primary without the support of the New Dems. If he is coming back to support the issues Al stood for and that Annie and Adrian stand for, good for him. All he has to do to win support is to do what the American people did on a national scale to George Bush: publicly repudiate this incompetent mayor Robinson-Briggs.
Carrie and Carol would sort of like to apologize for the hooting and hollering that took place at the victory party at Carol and Michael's house on Watchung Avenue last night. We are pretty sure that we didn't wake up too many Republicans.
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