By Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
Local figures and groups are continuing to plant their endorsements on the road leading to New Jersey’s Feb. 5 presidential primaries.
On Monday, the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama announced an endorsement by prominent Princeton resident and author Toni Morrison.
Ms. Morrison, recipient of the Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize for her literary works, addressed the letter, which was posted on the campaign’s Web site on Monday, directly to the Illinois senator.
In it, she describes why she decided to endorse Sen. Obama over his opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton, whom she has supported in the past.
”…In addition to keen intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and something I don’t see in other candidates. That something is a creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom,” she writes. “It is too bad if we associate it only with gray hair and old age. Or if we call searing vision naivete. Or if we believe cunning is insight.”
Noting that the announcement was Ms. Morrison’s first public endorsement of a presidential candidate, the campaign later issued Sen. Obama’s response to the endorsement.
”Toni Morrison has touched a nation with the grace and beauty of her words, and I was deeply moved and honored by the letter she wrote and the support she is giving our campaign,” he said in the statement.
An endorsement of a more official capacity will occur Tuesday, when members of the Mercer County Republican Committee will vote to endorse a Republican presidential candidate.
Committee Chairman Roy Wesley, who has already announced plans to endorse former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said his opinion won’t be the only one heard Tuesday.
”I’m supporting Rudy Giuliani, but the purpose of the meeting is for the committee to make its own decision,” he said. “There’s a lot of different support for different candidates.”
Mr. Wesley said he knows of supporters for Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, but said he is unaware of whether any members will be backing former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee or Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul.
However, each of the campaigns has been invited to send a representative to speak on behalf of their candidate, and up to five committee members will be allowed to speak on behalf of the candidate they support, he said.
The candidate who wins the majority vote will receive the committee’s official endorsement.
Meanwhile, the McCain campaign opened its state headquarters at 4619 Nottingham Way in Hamilton on Saturday at the former campaign headquarters of State Sen. Bill Baroni, who is supporting the Arizona senator.
Campaign volunteers are busy making phone calls and distributing lawn signs to supporters, Sen. Baroni said from the campaign office Monday, noting that he has visited homes of Republican voters in West Windsor Township.
”This is the hub epicenter of the McCain campaign,” he said. “It’s exciting to have it here in central Jersey. It’s the first time a major presidential campaign has had that kind of base in the region.”
As for the primary, polls will open at 6 a.m. on Feb. 5.
Contrary to previous primaries, the Feb. 5 election is just for the presidential candidates of the Democratic and Republican parties.
However, only Democrats will have delegates on the ballot, said Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami Covello.
Republicans will vote for delegates in the June primary, which will also feature votes for other state offices.
Ms. Covello and Brian Basford, of the county Board of Elections, provided the following information for voters to be ready for the Feb. 5 primary:
• Registration: Voters must have registered to vote prior to the primary. The last day to register to vote in the Feb. 5 primary was Jan. 15. Most residents will be able to vote at their regular polling locations, and those who will be required to vote at different locations will be notified of any changes by the Board of Elections.
• Party affiliation: Unaffiliated voters are eligible to vote, but they must declare a party affiliation, which can simply be done upon arrival at the polls Feb. 5. The deadline for changing one’s party affiliation for the primary from Republican to Democrat, or vice versa, was 50 days prior to the election, and has already passed. However, it is possible to change one’s party affiliation after the primary.
• Absentee ballots: Absentee ballots can be obtained at the County Clerk’s Office. Voters can apply to the county clerk for absentee ballots by mail until today, Tuesday, or in person at the clerk’s office until 3 p.m. Feb. 4. Voters can mail in completed ballots before Election Day or can hand-deliver them through Election Day.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton selected Ms. Morrison as one of 12 recipients of the National Humanities Medal in recognition of her contributions to American cultural life and thought. The National Endowment for the Humanities, which sponsors the awards, described her as America’s most renowned black woman writer.
Coming to Princeton University in 1989, Ms. Morrison is the Robert F. Goheen Professor in the Humanities emeritus and special consultant to the director of the Princeton Atelier.
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, Ms. Morrison was the first black winner and the first woman to win since 1938. She also won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for “Beloved,” and the National Book Critics Award in 1977 for “Song of Solomon.”
Born in Lorain, Ohio, she received a bachelor’s degree in English from Howard University in 1953 and a master’s degree in American literature from Cornell University in 1955.
Before coming to Princeton to teach literature and writing, she was a senior editor at Random House for 20 years.
She founded the Princeton Atelier, which brings to campus renowned artists from all fields to collaborate with students on original performances, productions and exhibitions.
