WHY IS JIMMY CARTER IN CUBA WHEN WE NEED HIM IN NEWARK?

If you picked up your New York Times this weekend, you would have seen a headline discussing the dispatchment of federal observers to ensure the fairness of elections in yet another poverty-stricken locale. A second glance revealed the locale to not some far-off Third World Nation, but Newark, NJ. The reason - councilman Cory Booker's audacious effort to challenge the urban potentate of long-time mayor Sharpe James. Threatened by the young, charismatic challenger, James responded by playing dirty - claiming Booker wasn't a "real Black," was a tool of Republican, Jews, the Klan - all because of his Ivy-League pedigree and his willingness to build coalitions across racial boundaries. Well, the reports in from Newark so far indicate that sending in federal observers was precisely the right thing to do, the James Gang has pulled out all the stops so far to ensure voters in Newark make the "right" choice. Here's hoping enough of them make the right choice for Cory Booker to win - as things look now, that may have to be quite more than 50% of those who planned to vote in today's election.

UPDATE: We'll have to wait at least four more years for a clean Newark - James won a 5th term by 3,000 votes (6%). Of course let's be honest - the ambitious Booker may be eyeing another step towards his political destiny by then.