Clinton falls short of expectations on N.J. campaign debut

Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner to win New Jersey's February 5, 2008 Democratic primary -- she has the backing of Governor Jon Corzine and ten Democratic County Chairmen -- but her campaign loses points out of the box for a sloppy Garden State debut. Their press release unveiling the first wave of endorsements left off five County Chairmen (and included one who says he told the campaign last week not to use his name), and did not include some powerful supporters, like Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo.

Corzine fell far short of delivering the kind of massive organizational endorsements that James E. McGreevey did for Howard Dean in 2004 or that Christine Todd Whitman amassed for George W. Bush in 2000 and for Bob Dole in 1996. Missing from the publicly released list were a mass of legislators -- just four of 22 Democratic State Senators and only four five of 49 Democrats in the State Assembly -- albeit three of the most powerful legislators. (Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts agreed to endorse Clinton only last Friday, and presumably will deliver many members of his caucus over the coming weeks.) Clinton has just two of the state's eight Democratic Congressmen (Dean had more) and neither of New Jersey's United States Senators participated in the New Jersey rollout.

What keeps New Jersey from being solidly in Clinton's camp -- as it is for New York neighbor Rudy Giuliani on the Republican side -- is the support of two Mayors from parts of the state that deliver significant blocks of votes in a Democratic primary: Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Jersey City Mayor (and incoming Hudson County Democratic Chairman) Jerramiah Healy are for Barack Obama. Also not in the Clinton camp: Democratic leaders from Middlesex, Bergen and Passaic counties. That block -- the one that Clinton does not have -- represents about half of the statewide Democratic primary vote; New Jersey's 2008 Democratic primary is not yet in the Clinton column.

Editor's Note: Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, who has lost party support in her bid for a second term, says she told the Clinton campaign of her support for the New York Senator last week but was not included on the list of legislative endorsements released on Monday.