L. Grace Spencer

As news stations projected Sen. Hillary Clinton beating Sen. Barack Obama in New Jersey, Obama supporters at the Wilshire Grand Hotel in West Orange tried to fight off their disappointment.

U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman praised Obama's gutsy performance and reminded the candidate's supporters that few gave the Illinois senator a chance when he began his campaign.

"We had a huge turnout in Jersey City," said Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who questioned the performance of new voting machines in his city.

Council President/Obama delegate candidate Mildred Crump

While the other side dozed strategically in parts of New Jersey’s biggest city, the Obama campaign stood 1,000 volunteers on the pavement of Newark Saturday and mobilized through all five wards.

Two days ago, Zora Menguelti and Peter Geier worked in an otherwise empty room in Obama campaign headquarters on Broad Street, handing out the makeshift literature they had, and waiting for reinforcements and supplies. On Saturday, they stood with two dozen volunteers amid stacks of glossy new Obama fliers and signs.

Women state legislators supporting Barack Obama for President stood together at Democratic State Committee headquarters in Trenton on Monday to put a collective exclamation point on their endorsement of the Illinois senator.

Senators Shirley Turner and Loretta Weinberg; and Assemblywomen Linda Greenstein, Elease Evans, Cleopatra Tucker and L. Grace Spencer said Obama is the candidate best equipped to deliver change.

Assemblyman L. Harvey SmithThree newly-elected state representatives have endorsed the presidential campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, citing what they describe as his unique background and ability to create change.

Assemblywoman Cleopatra G. Tucker of the 28th district, Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith of the 31st district and Assemblywoman L. Grace Spencer of the 29th district all joined Team Obama this week.

"Senator Obama represents a new generation of leadership for the United States," said Tucker. "I am confident that he will end the war in Iraq and will help all communities in New Jersey and across the nation."

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzoRunning in a crouch familiar to old-timey Newark sports fans, Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, Jr., heads out onto the grass - and this time approaches a half circle of women who have stationed themselves outside his press conference at the Turtle Back Zoo. They’re protesting his decision to allow a deer hunt early next year in the South Mountain Reservation.

"I don’t like guns, but I have no choice," he tells them. "We’ve tried trap and transfer. We’ve tried birth control. Nothing works. We have to reduce the deer population."