The last campaign stop for the 14th district Democratic Assembly candidates was a low key one.

After a whirlwind day of visiting union halls and polling places, Linda Greenstein and Wayne DeAngelo spent about 15 minutes of the chilly night outside of an Acme Supermarket in Hamilton. They were joined by Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts.

If it were a Lex Luthor-lookalike contest between the campaigns' respective leading men it would be difficult to pick a winner, but it is not that in the 12th district, though the chief handlers of two proud and competitive women here are not unaware of their own head-to-bald-head rivalry.

Tom Fitzsimmons, campaign manager for Republican Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck, likens the Democrats to the out-of-sorts and ultimately out-of-their-element Hessians on the eve of the Battle of Trenton. Mike Premo, campaign manager for Democratic Senator Ellen Karcher, chooses another metaphor - but he sticks with the military imagery.

In the hard-fought 12th district, Democratic Senator Ellen Karcher worked the Route 9 diner circuit this afternoon with Senate President Richard Codey. Her Republican challenger, Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck, went door-to-door in Tinton Falls with one of her running mates, Declan O'Scanlon, then fell back to headquarters to make phone calls.

The GOP team, which also includes Caroline Casagrande, was planning to work the train stations in Red Bank and Little Silver in the early evening hours before rendezvousing in Freehold to brace for election results later tonight, according to campaign spokesman Tom Fitzsimmons.