WEST ORANGE, N.J.--Here at the Obama campaign's primary results watch party at the Wilshire Grand Hotel, the crowd is upbeat, despite their candidate's loss of the New Jersey popular vote. Why? Because a couple of months ago, nobody much expected him to do anything but lose big here. Instead, it seems, according to projections WEST ORANGE, N.J.--Here at the Obama campaign's primary results watch party at the Wilshire Grand Hotel, the crowd is upbeat, despite their candidate's loss of the New Jersey popular vote. Why? Because a couple of months ago, nobody much expected him to do anything but lose big here. Instead, it seems, according to projections reported by the Newark Star-Ledger, Barack Obama came within 10 points of Hillary Clinton's 54 percent of the popular vote, and could walk away with half the state's delegates (due to a complicated apportionment system that makes the Electoral College look like the old math). Best line of the night came from Jersey City Mayor Jeremiah Healy, who, during the speechmaking portion of the program said, in all seriousness, "We're having trouble getting our votes counted in Jersey City." To those not in the know of Jersey's noble history, voting shenanigans are hardly new in J.C., or in the county of which it is seat, the long-benighted Hudson. To Healy's fretful announcement, U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman, joked, "Mayor, you're from Hudson County. Do something about it!" Whether or not the problem getting the vote count in Jersey City has anything to do with the state's politics -- which often take on the character of a knife-fight -- we may never know. But I can report this: the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama appears to be reshaping New Jersey politics, splitting up old alliances and creating new ones. "When I saw Dick Cody, [who leads the New Jersey Senate] come over to the Obama side, I knew the Clintonistas were in for a fight," said Bob Hennelly, senior reporter for WNYC, the New York City NPR news station. --Adele M. Stan
