Street Fight by Marshall Curry reveals insipid corruption in the city of Newark, New Jersey. In 2002, city councilman Cory Booker ran against 32-year incumbent Sharp James. From the start, Cory Booker has a few strikes against him. He is from a relatively affluent suburb, and not from Newark itself. Although he is an African-American man, the community of Newark trusts Sharp James in spite of the corruption scandals that have plagued the mayor's career. Of course, Cory Booker also suffers from being young and relatively unknown. He is running primarily on the platform of reform, primarily from the perspective of the people on the streets. The residents of Newark do not trust Cory Booker, in part because they are unfamiliar with him, and in part because do not see him as having a vested interest in Newark. Furthermore, his campaign budget is much lower than the incumbents. Public relations setbacks like the campaign chief of staff was being indicted in the prostitution...

However, the most important reason why Sharp James wins is because of the stranglehold James has over local politics.
Sharp James has a brand, an identity, and a level of familiarity that Booker simply cannot compete with. Yet James's main strength is his power over all elements of the Newark city government. James is able to call the police when the documentarian filmed a rally, and allows for the rampant and illegal tactics of suppressing freedom of speech like the demotion of the police officer who supported Booker and the threat to a woman in social housing for holding a sign outside her window. The James campaign aggressively prevents the documentarian from filming. Moreover, the Booker campaign headquarters was broken into, and valuable documents stolen. James viewed Booker as a threat because Booker was engendering himself with the people of Newark. This is because Booker had the…