November 4, 2008 - 3:27pm
Inside Edge

Perhaps apples & oranges: early absentee numbers from Bergen

With absentee ballots counted in eight of Bergen County's seventy municipalities, Barack Obama leads John McCain 54%-46% -- 1,118 to 956.  Four years ago, George W. Bush carried these same towns (Allendale, Alpine, Bergenfield, Bogota, Edgewater, South Hackensack, Woodridge and Wyckoff) by a 51%-49% margin over John Kerry.  

In the race for Congress in the 5th district, where absentee ballots in only Allendale, Alpine, Bergenfield, and Wyckoff have been counted, incumbent Scott Garrett leads Dennis Shulman by a 52%-48% margin -- 591 to 549.  In 2004, Garrett carried these four towns by a 55%-45% margin.

Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan leads challenger Diane Testa by a 63%-37% margin on absentee ballots in these eight towns, while Democratic U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg leads Republican Dick Zimmer by a 53%-47% margin on absentee ballots.  That puts Donovan, a Republican, 17 points ahead of McCain and 16 points ahead of Zimmer.  

In the race for Bergen County Freeholder, there is a closer contest among absentee ballot voters in these eight towns:  Republicans Paul Duggan (948), Republican Chris Calabrese (943) and Jeffrey Heller (894) lead Democratic incumbents Bernadette McPherson (893), Vernon Walton (850) and David Ganz (793).

Wally Edge can be reached via email at politicsnj@aol.com.