Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin (D-29) of the Ironbound section of Newark has a fundraiser tonight and the usual cast of characters – Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Essex County Democratic Committee Chairman Leroy Jones – will welcome a newcomer.

Assemblyman Craig Coughlin (D-19) confirmed his attendance at the the event, a camel nose under the tent flap gesture that now makes the coming fusion of Middlesex and Essex counties all but inevitable.

Not present on the initial list for Coughlin as speaker, Pintor Marin this week attached her name to state Senator Joe Vitale’s (D-19) Horizon bill, which Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-32) opposes, and now Coughlin is poised to punch in to the Ironbound fundraiser.