Max Pizarro's blog

EAST BRUNSWICK - Gov. Jon Corzine says he just called the victor in this gubernatorial contest, Republican Chris Christie.

"I have never been more honored than to serve as the United States Senator and to be the governor of this great state has been a great joy I never could have imagined,"Corzine tells the crowd.

Staffers fight tears, wipe them away.

"It is important that we fight for healthcare, it is important that New Jerseyans fight for education, the right to collective bargaining," Corzine says.

He names his allies. Thanks them.

Campaign Manager Maggie Moran. State Party Chairman Joe Cyran.

The young people.

EAST BRUNSWICK - It's over.

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) takes the microphone onstage here at the Hilton.

"There is not one minute of this that I would ever trade in," says Weinberg. "I have been driving in a car for five months with Rocco Mazza and the GPS. I've got to tell you, I grew to hate the woman and the GPS. I want to give him a personal thank you." 

Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford), far left, onstage this morning in Cherry Hill.

In Gloucester County, home base of state Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford), Chris Christie has defeated incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine, 47.3% to 43.9%.

Christie was also officially determined to be the victor in Hunterdon (65.7% to 25.4%) and Sussex (63.7% to 25.8%) counties.

Independent candidate Chris Daggett just formally conceded.

"Whoever wins tonight deserves our full and total support," he says on a big screen television screen. "This has been a tough campaign and no one knows that better than my family."

Daggett paid tribute to his wife, Bea, for enduring him on the campaign trail and helping his efforts.

"I'll never be able to thank me adequately, and I know she'll never let me forget it," said the independent, who also thanked his daughters.

With 50% of the vote in, NJN Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron is reporting that Chris Christie is leading incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine, 49% to 45%.

Corzine in Camden County this morning.

EAST BRUNSWICK - Trepidation. Worry. Agitation. Borderline resignation.

Those are some of the emotions projecting into the big carpeted room here at the East Brunswick Hilton as the returns come in and some early trends appear to favor GOP gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie over Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine.

This is where Corzine's victory party is supposed to be going down.

But no one is daring to be the bon vivant at this anxious gathering here in support of another four years for Corzine.

"Tonight's going to be a good night, yes, tonight's going to be a good, good night," sing the Black Eyed Peas.

Team Irvington chief D. Bilal Beasely, center, campaigns for Corzine with Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker (D-Newark) and Corzine Campaign Director Phil Alagia

IRVINGTON - The early word from Irvington is that the Newark neighbor is poised to receive almost the same number of votes as it did four years ago.

Corzine in 2005 received 9,200 votes in Irvington. Operatives who have been following the numbers all day anticipate the governor receiving nearly 10,000 votes in the city.

"I believe Corzine's going to win," said Council President John Sowell, an ally of Team Irvington leader Councilman D. Bilal Beasely, the chief GOTV point person in Irvington.

But Essex County party operatives continue to worry about GOP candidate Chris Christie's performance in the suburbs of Essex County, where he was raised and attended high school.

NEWARK - Corroborated sources from the city's five wards show the city underperforming compared to the 2005 governor's race.

Four years ago, Jon Corzine received 39,600 votes in the state's biggest city.

Right now, projections show the governor receiving 33,200 votes or 8,000 votes in the North Ward, 8,000 in the South Ward, 7,000 in the West Ward, 4,200 in the East Ward, and 6,000 in the Central Ward.

Assemblywoman L. Grace Spencer (D-Newark) this evening in the South Ward.

NEWARK - The late push has begun in Newark's five wards. Anything slow early was explained away with the emphatic point that after work numbers will swell the outcome.

In the East Ward, after playing basketball with children outside a polling place, Mayor Cory Booker climbs into a car and squeals away - bound for East Side High School.

On Adams Street, in party headquarters, the core of the East Ward Democratic Party brain trust sits in their usual Election Day chairs around a table in a back room: veteran political operative Joe Parlavecchio, Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-Newark), and East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador, among others.

"We are projected to do a little better than the 2005 gubernatorial election," says Coutinho.

In the troubled Central Ward, which lost its party chairman this past summer, Councilman Charles Bell says their numbers are not tracking as well as the 2005 election.

Payne operating in the South Ward

NEWARK - U.S. Rep. Donald Payne (D-Newark) stands in front of headquarters on Bergen in the South Ward and he's guardedly optimistic.

The South Ward is now at 4,000 votes recorded, or a fifth of what the South Ward attained in 2008 for President Barack Obama. Before the end of Election Day, Payne wants to get 12,000 votes for Gov. Jon Corzine in this ward, the biggest in the city, and the one where Mayor Cory Booker is arguably the least popular.

This is former Mayor Sharpe James's old ward, and at the Galilee Baptist Church - the polling place in James's home district - turnout is relatively good.

At 3 p.m., the district recorded 301 votes, or 133 votes shy of half of the votes people here turned out last year for Obama.

"It's on target," says Payne of the south. "It's light compared to a presidential year - certainly compared to last year, but I think what we do here will enable us to eke out a narrow victory."