Mike Huckabee

With John McCain looking good in his bid to win New Jersey’s winner-take-all Republican primary tomorrow, the only real news – if it matters at all – is the battle for third place between Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee.  Independent polls have shown the two would-be contenders to be running virtually even, albeit in single digits.  Paul has the backing of Assemblyman Michael Doherty and U.S. Senate candidate Murray Sabrin, while Huckabee’s campaign received the endorsement of New Jersey Right to Life. 

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.

Peter Kane, state director for the Huckabee campaign, reminds the audience that his candidate beat the Clinton machine three times.

New Jersey Republicans who had signed on with Mitt Romney looked as though they were heading straight for the triage unit going into Michigan on Tuesday when their presidential candidate came alive and beat the surging Sen. John McCain.

"It was the first state in the mix that looks like America, and he won it by ten points," state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, Romney’s state chairman in New Jersey, said of Romney’s performance in the ethnically diverse mid-western state.