Corzine, falls below 70% in eight counties, and one out of three Middlesex Democrats didn't vote for him

Updated: Gov. Jon Corzine's 77% of the vote in the Democratic primary on Tuesday was helped considerably by strong showings in Essex, Hudson, Passaic and Union counties, where he won 89%, 87%, 85%, and 81%, respectively.  But against three challengers with no money, no base, no organization, and no name identification, the incumbent Governor seemed to have seriously underperformed outside of North Jersey.

In two Democratic strongholds important to his re-election campaign, Corzine won just 67% in Middlesex and 70% in Camden.  The incumbent was held to 62% in Monmouth and 65% in Ocean.

In South Jersey, Corzine received 75% in Atlantic, 71% in Burlington, 68% in Cape May, 64% in Gloucester, and 62% in Salem.  Northwestern New Jersey was even more problematic: the Governor won just 56% of the primary vote in Warren, 60% in Sussex, 61% in Hunterdon, and 76% in Morris.  He had some good news in Mercer, with 79%.

Corzine outpolled three popular county officials: Essex Sheriff Armando Fontoura (by 3,967 votes), Hudson County Surrogate Donald DiLeo (by 2,969 votes), Passaic County Freeholder Tahesha Way (by 693 votes), and Union County Surrogate James LaCorte (by 1,049 votes).   But he received less votes than other countywide candidates running in the Democratic primary:

• Burlington: Freeholder candidate Kimberly Kersey, 7,399; Corzine, 6,620
• Cape May: State Committeeman Jeffrey April, 1,250; Corzine, 1,100
• Hunterdon: Freeholder candidate Peter Maurer, 1,532; Corzine, 1,115
• Mercer: Freeholder Ann Cannon, 6,026; Corzine, 5,797
• Monmouth: Freeholder candidate Sean Byrnes, 6,380; Corzine, 5,105
• Ocean: Sheriff candidate George Armstrong, 6,717; Corzine, 5,478
• Salem: Assemblyman John Burzichelli, 2,112; Corzine, 1,373
• Sussex: State Committeewoman Margarita Cart, 1,484; Corzine, 1,129
• Warren: State Senate candidate Harvey Baron, 1,734; Corzine, 1,152

Results form Bergen, Cumberland and Somerset were not available.

Corzine also received the least total number of votes cast for the winner of a Democratic statewide primary over the last decade:

Jon Corzine (2000) 251,216
James E. McGreevey (2001) 250,404
Jon Corzine (2005) 207,670
Frank Lautenberg (2008) 203,012
Bob Torricelli (2002) 181,468
Bob Menendez (2006) 159,604
Jon Corzine (2009) 148,878