ORANGE - A hoarse, fatigued-looking Gov. Jon Corzine told a crowd of African-American ministers and supporters today that he believes he deserves the support of a community that backed him with numbers adding up to 90% in the last election.

Street sources say urban support is soft now for the incumbent governor, particularly when compared with the outpouring of urban black voters for Barack Obama last year, a disparity so obvious that gin-up "Keep it Going" billboards featuring Corzine and Obama stand all over key New Jersey cities, including this one.

"I support the President lock, stock and barrel," Corzine told his audience at AME Church on Wednesday afternoon, answering a question about why he diverges from Obama on the issue of merit pay for teachers.

"That doesn't mean I support everything he supports," added the governor, who's allies quietly reveled in new poll numbers Wednesday that show Corzine within four-point striking distance now as he labors to pull even with Republican challenger Chris Christie.

Ultimately, Corzine made the pitch for his re-election based on a combination of Obama love, some mild Bush bashing, and mostly what he proclaims as his own record of standing with African-Americans.

"I have been enormously blessed with the support of this community," the governor said. "I hope you will consider supporting me for another four years. Everything I'm working to achieve is to attain that equality."

He admits it's a stretch to believe he'll get there, but he wants to contribute to driving the state closer to the ideals of the country.

"Moses labored for 40 years to get to the Promised Land, and didn't make it," Corzine told the church crowd. "But we're fighting to make sure every child has health insurance, and we've added 90,000 more children to our rolls. We've added $9 billion in education since the last budget of Gov. (Richard) Codey, even as we have cut the budget by $4 billion. I've banned racial profiling, and brought African Americans to the table of power in my cabinet and the judiciary.

"I care about making sure everybody gets out of this recession, which was caused by... giving tax cuts to people already well fixed," the governor added. "Your issues are my issues. ...It's unfortunate that we had bad leadership for eight years, superceded by real leadership." 

While Corzine, Christie and independent candidate Chris Daggett test drove their tonsils in separate performances in the lead-up to Thursday night's NJN debate, Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) upped
the ante in his intra-party challenge of Senate President Codey, which Sweeney appeared to win with his collection of 14 of 23 caucus votes.

Ironically, as that back-drama played out, the gubernatorial combatants appeared here in Orange, where Codey was born.

"It's a matter of internal governance and I'll leave it up to them," Corzine told reporters.