New Jersey primary

The Inside Edge is always happy to help our good friend Paul Mulshine, which is why there were no complaints when his February 5 column on the idea that Mitt Romney’s campaign can run their own delegate slate in June and effectively bypass the winner-take-all system appeared to mirror a similar column on this site six days earlier.  After all, Mulshine is a better writer, and he did use the s-word. 

But one word of caution to the man who sits on the right side of the Star-Ledger:  be careful when you let C. Richard “Dick” Kamin, a man of limited intellectual capacity and even less influence, spin you on a story – especially one the ex-Motor Vehicles Director read on PolitickerNJ.com.

Hillary Clinton won an estimated 59 delegates in the February 5 New Jersey Democratic primary, while 48 delegates will go to Barack Obama. More delegates will be awarded by the Democratic State Committee in April. 

Two super delegates, Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Rep. Rush Holt, have not yet committed.

In the end, Barack Obama came no closer to Hillary Clinton than Doug Forrester came to Frank Lautenberg and Jon Corzine. Clinton appears to have won New Jersey by more than 100,000 votes – a 54%-44% margin. It was a solid win fueled by strong showings in Bergen, Hudson, Camden, Passaic and Middlesex counties. Clinton carried sixteen counties; Obama won Essex, Mercer, Somerset, Hunterdon and Union counties.

Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton in New Jersey by a 53%-47% margin, according to early exit polls conducted by Voter News Service.  These numbers do not reflect any actual election results.

Only 70 of New Jersey's 127 delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention are at stake today -- 39 more delegates will be selected by the Democratic State Committee on April 17, and the remaining 18 -- mostly DNC members and top elected officials -- are automatic delegates. The delegates are apportioned based on the percentage of vote received by the presidential candidate. Assuming no candidate gets below 15% of the vote, in a district with three delegates, a candidate who gets 50%+1 gets two of the three delegates; in a district with four delegates, a candidate would need 63% to get three of the four.

Perhaps it wasn’t the best strategic campaign stop for John McCain, but he came to Hamilton today anyway accompanied by an entourage of nationally prominent Republicans and even one former Democratic vice presidential candidate.

Joining McCain today at the Colonial Volunteer Firehouse were Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Joe Lieberman [I/D-CT], Sen. Phil Graham [R-TX], Sen. Lindsey Graham [R-SC], Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Rep. Vito Fossella [R-NY].

It was also a time to shine for McCain’s tried and true New Jersey supporters – especially those who backed the candidate even when his campaign was hobbled by low cash and low poll numbers: State Senators Bill Baroni, Kevin O’Toole and Sean Kean; GOP State Chairman Tom Wilson; Morris County Freeholder John Murphy; former 9th district congressional candidate Vincent Micco and Bergen County Clerk Kathe Donovan. 

In our year-end review of New Jersey politics, PolitickerNJ.com gave our worst prediction of the year award to Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts for touting the relevance of New Jersey’s February 5 presidential primary. At the time, Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani held massive leads in this state.

One sign that Hillary Clinton’s New Jersey campaign may have been a bit overconfident -- her campaign sent out an e-mail this afternoon recruiting lawyers to work on Election Day: “As you know, tomorrow – February 5, 2008 – is primary election day across New Jersey.  As in years past, we are assembling a statewide team of volunteer attorneys to work at the polling places, respond to potential problems, make court applications, answer questions, assist the field operation, and generally help the campaign’s legal efforts.  These efforts by volunteer attorneys on Election Day are an integral part of ensuring proper conduct throughout the election, protecting every person’s right to vote, and making sure every vote counts.”

Governor Jon Corzine will vote in Hoboken at 6:15 AM and then help Hillary Clinton by meeting some commuters at the Jersey City PATH station.  His schedule has no other public events on Super Tuesday until 8:00 PM, when he’ll attend a Clinton primary party at the Skylark Diner in Edison.

Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, will campaign in Elizabeth today.  She is scheduled to visit several local business owners and residents, beginning with l Palmar at 3PM.