Mike Huckabee

BLOOMINGTON, Minn.  – Former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee wondered out loud today why the New Jersey delegation had asked him to speak to their delegation this afternoon.”

“Why on earth would they invite a southern boy to speak to the folks of New Jersey today?  Must have been the novelty,” he said.

That was the extent of Huckabee’s remarks regarding New Jersey today.  Instead, he launched into an eight minute speech praising Sen. John McCain as an honorable man who’s ready to be president, along with the pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for Vice President.

“Today you’re going to hear us say wonderful things, but the good thing is we don’t have to make it up.  We genuinely believe John McCain is tested, prepared and ready to be president,” he said. 

Huckabee spokesman Peter KaneFormer Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's Super Tuesday performance sparked his supporters here in New Jersey, including State Campaign Director Peter Kane, who also couldn't resist taking a shot at the GOP field's favorite target, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney.

"They said we had a second tier candidate," Kane said in a statement. "They said the Iowa win was a fluke. They said we were just in it to be a spoiler. They said we should just get out of the race now. They said we had limited appeal to a narrow slice of the electorate."

Huckabee picked up victories in his homestate of Arkansas, in Georgia, Alabama and West Virginia, and was competing in at least two more states Wednesday morning.

"With wins in several states, throughout this country and the delegate count
rising steadily maybe this has finally become a two person race," said Kane. "And maybe, it is time for Gov. Romney to bow out gracefully and leave the battle to the one true, sincere conservative in this race: Mike Huckabee."

Their candidates are not expected to win in New Jersey, but Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul supporters are preparing for different kinds of victories.

Huckabee state campaign head Peter Kane spent part of the day working the phones and handing out flyers at supermarkets. He’ll hold a victory party tonight at the Scotchwood Diner in Scotch Plains.

Two final New Jersey polls show Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain with leads in their respective fields.

A Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll shows Clinton leading Barack Obama 46%-41%. A Strategic Vision poll shows Clinton leading Obama 47%-41%.

The Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll shows McCain with 53%, Mitt Romney with 24%, and Mike Huckabee with 5%. The Strategic Vision poll shows McCain with 55%, Romney with 25%, and Huckabee with 10%.

A new Quinnipiac poll has Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama, 48%-43%: Getty Images Photo
Hillary Clinton's lead in New Jersey has shrunk to just five points and leads Barack Obama 48%-43% among likely Democratic primary voters, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released this morning. On the Republican side, John McCain leads Mitt Romney 52%-30%.

"Sen. Obama has put together a coalition of blacks and independents to dramatically narrow the gap in just the last few days in New Jersey, but the big question remains: Will there be enough of these new, young, first time voters showing up to pull a surprise on Super Tuesday?" said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

The Quinnipiac poll mirrors one conducted at the end of last week by Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg for George Norcross that showed Clinton ahead by six points. Clinton had a 17-point lead in a January 23 Quinnipiac poll, and had been ahead by as much as 34 points late last year.

Two more polls out Sunday show Senator John McCain with wide leads in New Jersey.

A Reuters/CSPAN/Zogby poll shows McCain at 54% former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney at 23%.

And a survey by McClatchy and MSNBC show McCain with 46%, Romney with 31%, and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee with 5%.

The McClatchy/MNSBC poll also shows Senator Hiillary Clinton leading Senator Barack Obama in the Democratic race 46%-39%.

A Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll of likely Democratic primary voters has Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama 50%-34% in New Jersey’s February 5 Democratic presidential primary. Among likely GOP voters, John McCain has a 55%-23% lead over Mitt Romney, with 7% for Mike Huckabee and 3% for Ron Paul.

John McCain and Rudy Giuliani are in a statistical dead heat in New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton holds a 17 point lead for the February 5 presidential primary, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released this morning. McCain leads Giuliani 29%-26%, with Mitt Romney at 14% and Mike Huckabee at 9%. Fred Thompson had 9%.

Clinton, who will make stops in Hackensack and North Bergen today, leads Barack Obama, 49%-32%. John Edwards gets 10% of the likely Democratic vote. Among Black voters, Obama leads 62%-27%, while Clinton leads among women 44%0-36%.

Two polls show John McCain leading Rudy Giuliani in New Jersey’s February 5 presidential primary: a Neighborhood Research poll has McCain leading 31%-26%, with 18% for Mitt Romney, 9% for Mike Huckabee, and 4% for Ron Paul; and a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll has McCain ahead of Giuliani by a 23%-29% margin, with 10% for Romney and 7% for Huckabee.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads Barack Obama, 41%-27%, with 8% for John Edwards in the FDU poll.

Quinnipiac University will release their poll this morning.

A new poll of 380 past Republican voters likely to vote in the Feb. 5th New Jersey primary shows Sen. John McCain leading former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani by 31-26% with 18% for former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney.

Conducted for a private client on Sunday through Tuesday by Neighborhood Research of Franklin, the survey has a theoretical margin of error of +/- 5.0% in 95% of cases.