Booker, Sherrill, 2028, and the Chatter Around 'Mr. Inevitability'
PRINCETON - With something on the order of aplomb, Governor Mikie Sherrill rattled off the names of those honorable victors in Tuesday's general election:
Naturally.
Of course.
Then came the third name.
Don't know him?
The U.S. Senator from Georgia, who smoked his Republican opposition in a way that made the name of that unfortunate political victim something of an afterthought (ah, it was Mike Collins, courtesy of Google).
Sherrill in her post-election endzone dance would go on to name a few others, putting the emphasis on fellow veterans who affixed a disciplined exclamation point on the country's rejection of Donald Trump's nefarious corruption exercise.
What a catastrophe for Trump.
More on that in another post.
But the invocation of Ossoff by New Jersey's governor stood forth as politics junkies turn their attention to 2028.
Ossoff, even in New Jersey, has peoples' attention.
InsiderNJ spoke with an operative on the Monday before Election Day.
He couldn't stop talking about the Georgia Senator.
This was in Paterson.
The operative's rationale was that a guy who helped turn a red state blue deserves a strong national looksee as 2026 turns into 2028.
"It's strategy," said the source, hearkening back to Clinton-Gore, 1992.
About a month ago, too, in Elizabeth, another veteran operator buttonholed InsiderNJ with Ossoff.
Made a hard case.
Couldn't stop talking about him.
This guy's got the goods. Strong orator. Tough. Some gravitas. Doesn't look like a back-slapping backbencher. A winner. Something special. Obama-like.
Sherrill seems impressed, too.
Her shout-out to the Senator occurred against the backdrop of U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) snagging a no-drama win on Tuesday night, steamrolling to victory in what most insiders see as an easy load ramp to a 2028 presidential run.
Is Booker - beloved in New Jersey, a state not necessarily beloved in prez politics - on a kind of collision course with Ossoff?
In addition, is Ossoff coalescing sufficient support to cause Sherrill to opt out of a 2028 prez run?
Is she playing for department of defense, for example, on the negotiating backend, as opposed to getting in front of a podium to throw sharp intra-party elbows on the front end?
Just a question.
Within the suddenly intensified incubator of Democratic Party presidential politics, another source told InsiderNJ that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro may now be angling more for attorney general than president.
Might Booker, for his part, be looking at vice president, in the event that Ossoff becomes "the guy?" Or fighting it out in a different groove from the developing Ossoff-is -Inevitable camp?
Wait a minute.
Inevitable?
Hardly.
This is very preliminary. But let's say in the event that Ossoff - still a very green commodity in the world of politics - doesn't get his chin over the early bar, Booker - with strong early work undertaken in the south - assumes (at the very least) a relevant position in the national conversation.
Certainly, by virtue of seniority in New Jersey, New Jersey's senior senator maintains a strong statewide position here, but all bets are off if Ossoff becomes "inevitable."
Based on her post-Election Day enthusiasm - and of course, this is politics, so nothing is set in stone, nor is a name drop indicative of an unequivocal symbol - Sherrill is aware of Ossoff's early strength.
More later.
