As Newark Mayor Cory Booker hits full stride in his run for U.S. Senate, one routine of his administration has already fallen by the wayside.

WBGO, Newark’s famous jazz radio station, has told the mayor his monthly call-in show has been canceled.

It's not low ratings that took Booker off the air, but rather the equal-time responsibility of the publicly funded station. Now that Booker is a candidate with three other Democrats, WBGO cannot appear to be partial by giving him a one-hour platform to get his message out, according to Monica Miller, a veteran reporter at the station.

When Miller told Booker about dumping the show last week, the mayor seemed relieved.

"Really? It's still on my schedule. I'm free!" he told her. Booker took a beat before adding the caveat: "Until after the election."

The Auditor noticed the other big name on the 2013 ballot — Gov. Chris Christie, running for re-election in November — has continued appearing on his monthly "Ask the Governor" call-in show on New Jersey 101.5.

Michael DuHaime, Christie's political strategist, would not comment, deferring questions to the radio station.

Eric Scott, the host of "Ask the Governor," told The Auditor the show will go on. "'Ask the Governor' is a bona fide news interview program and therefore (according to the FCC guidelines) it is exempt from the equal opportunities requirement," he said.

An unexpected guest

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono has served in the Legislature for almost 20 years, but she had trouble finding her way around the Statehouse last week, The Auditor has learned.

The state senator from Middlesex County was on her way to press row Monday for an NJTV interview when she made a wrong turn. By the time she was halfway down the hall, she realized she was in the wrong place: the governor’s communications shop.

Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said the governor's staff "treated it as an accidental incursion beyond the demilitarized zone."

“She was obviously lost in the Statehouse but was escorted to the neutral zone without incident,” Drewniak added.

David Turner, Buono's campaign spokesman, said the wayward candidate had a method to her meandering: "She was checking to see if the women's fleeces had come in yet."

And now for something completely different ...

U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-5th Dist.) may have the financial industry's heavy hitters behind him, but his potential challenger next year has wooed the Wu-Tang Clan. Or at least one of its most prominent members.

Roy Cho — a Democratic political neophyte who is considering challenging Garrett — was endorsed last week by rapper Ghostface Killah — one of the legendary rap group's best-known members.

“I need yall to check my man @roycho5 website roycho.com,” Ghostface tweeted last week. “Help get him that CONGRESS SEAT.”

The Auditor obviously wondered how Ghostface — a Staten Island native, or Shaolin in Wu-Tang parlance — had even heard about Cho’s potential challenge to Garrett.

Turns out Cho has never met him. But his sister, who used to work in entertainment marketing, met the rapper and chatted up Cho’s candidacy to him.

“He asked her if she could send him some materials about me and what I’m up against,” Cho told The Auditor.

Cho, who says he’s a moderate Democrat, has yet to formally throw in against Garrett — by far the state’s most conservative federal lawmaker. “I’m still kind of in an exploratory phase myself. I’m still raising as much money as possible to see how viable I’ll be,” Cho said.

Or, in the words of Method Man — another prominent Wu-Tang member — "Cash rules everything around me. C.R.E.A.M. Get the money; dolla, dolla bill, y'all."

Let them eat blueberry pie — or taffy

Last year, Assemblyman Sean Kean (R-Monmouth) pushed a bill to name blueberry pie the official "New Jersey dessert" — introduced at the behest of a Bradley Beach fourth-grader when Kean gave a lesson on how a bill becomes law.

Now he's got some competition among the confections crowd.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) has introduced a bill (A4229) to make salt water taffy the state candy. It's another of those teaching-how-bills-become-laws deals, this one for Sayreville students.

“It thought it was a sweet way to show the kids how the legislative process works,” Wisniewski said. “Pun intended.”

Wisniewski said there’s room for both a state dessert and a state candy. Kean, who is “troubled” his blueberry pie bill has gone stale in the Assembly, says he’ll try to join forces with Wisniewski on both.

While there is no salt water in the taffy, legend has it that 19th century Atlantic City vendor David Bradley coined the name after his candy store was flooded by sea water.

Book her for Booker

Julie Roginsky, a Democratic strategist and Fox News personality, cut her teeth running U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone's 1998 campaign against Republican Mike Ferguson. But Roginsky won't be with Pallone (D-6th Dist.) as he runs for Senate. The Auditor has learned Roginsky has signed on with Booker as a senior strategist. Booker's campaign and Roginsky declined comment.