The Newark Mayoral Election

The Newark mayoral race goes to the voters today, as Cory Booker seeks to become Newark's third black mayor and the first mayor born after the 1967 riot. (Kwame Kilpatrick in Detroit, for the trivially minded, followed the same pattern.) The proposals of Booker and his chief opponent, New Jersey state senator Ronald Rice, seem very similar, although Rice would apparently be more cautious in his approach. Booker, if (if?) elected, hopes to encourage more free-market initiatives in his hope for turning the city around. If that sounds unthinkable to liberal Democrats (of which Booker is one), I ask you to consider the fact that Newark has been run by old-fashioned, die-hard New Deal liberal Democrats since before your mother was born, and things haven't exactly worked out all that well.

If Booker does win, he has his work cut out of him. Between Newark's business establishment, the city council, and the Essex County Democratic Committee, he have to break through several political walls.