Ingrid Reed

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie is a likely candidate for the GOP nomination for Governor in 2009Perception of corruption’s so rampant, political scientists say it’s unlikely yesterday’s fiasco will substantially impact Election Day.

Every time U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie puts on the cape and lands on the steps of a federal building in either Trenton or Newark, inevitably there are those who want to try to drive over a mud puddle and spatter the fearless crusader.

What Christie has had to stare down in particular over the past year is the criticism that under the guise of Captain Americanism he’s little more than a lowly spear carrier for the Bush administration, serving a subpoena to Democrat Robert Menendez in 2006, and in ‘07 going after urban and mostly African-American lawmakers who represent poor Democratic districts.

The last time all 120 legislative seats were in play, back in 2003, Gov. James E. McGreevey, who was suffering from low poll numbers, made himself scarce on the campaign trail.

Although Gov. Jon S. Corzine doesn’t suffer from the same upside-down poll numbers as McGreevey did, he doesn’t appear to be a hot commodity with Democratic legislative candidates running in the fall mid-term elections.

While Democrats aren’t running away from Corzine, they’re not exactly tripping over themselves to get him on their campaigns. As of right now, aside from a couple bill signings, none of the Democrats who are in competitive races -- districts one, two, seven, eight, 12, 14, 38 or 39 -- have any rallies or fundraisers planned with Corzine.

There are great primary races for State Senate and Assembly in seven districts tomorrow. Some are about the candidates themselves, and others are about power struggles between party leaders and other key players.

Each of these districts – 24, 26, 28, 29, 31, 33 and 40 – are competitive only in primaries. That means a victory in Tuesday’s primary in tantamount to election.

PoliticsNJ.com asked four political science professors who keep a careful eye on New Jersey politics for their predictions in key races: Ingrid Reed, the Director of the Eagleton Project at Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute for Politics; David Rebovich, the Managing Director of the Rider University Institute for New Jersey Politics; Montclair University Political Science Professor Brigid Harrison; and Seton Hall University Political Science Professor (and Acting Dean) Joseph Marbach.