Feb 1, 2008 5:44 pm US/Central
Presidential Race Split Down Middle In N.J.
Super Tuesday Will Be Wild Affair Throughout Garden State
TEANECK, N.J. (CBS) ―
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The race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is so tight in New Jersey there's really no way to tell what's going to happen.
Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images
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New Jersey is so important to John McCain the Arizona senator is expected to campaign there the day before Super Tuesday.
Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images
New Jersey's primary date was moved up to Super Tuesday from March this year, and that means the Garden State has become a battleground for both the Republicans and the Democrats.
In the mostly Jewish orthodox community of Teaneck, N.J., Israel is one of the most important issues in Tuesday's primaries, reports CBS station WCBS-TV in New York. Many voters here say Republican John McCain is the candidate they trust.
"I think he has a good policy about foreign policy," said Bob Sugarman of Hillsdale, N.J.
But Democrat Hillary Clinton has supporters, too.
"I think she's much more of a candidate intellectually," Teaneck's Wendy Levites said. "Obama hasn't been around a long time even though he went to Harvard."
Teaneck resident Roger Brown though is torn between Clinton and Obama.
"I think she's a good woman she'll do well but he'll be a better president," Brown said.
Like in Teaneck, residents all over the state appear to be split. New Jersey is a state where Democrats control but voters tend to be more moderate in national elections, where unaffiliated voters can vote in the primaries, deciding which primary right before they cast their ballot.
While powerful state senator and former Gov. Richard Codey is supporting Obama, fellow Democrat and current Gov. Jon Corzine is standing behind longtime friend Sen. Clinton.
"I feel good about her as a human being and I think the public will," Corzine said.
State Assemblyman Kevin O'Toole, R-Wayne, is the co-chairman McCain N.J. Committee.
"When you look at the national polls the Republican that beats Clinton and Obama is John McCain," O'Toole said.
What will happen in the primaries is anyone's guess in a state where political outcomes are never easy to predict.
Republican say McCain considers New Jersey to be so important that he's going to be campaigning in the state on Monday.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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