Eyewitness NewsPATERSON, N.J. -- Two eight-term congressmen duking it out in the Democratic primary in a redrawn 9th District turned for help Friday from President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton. Clinton, who has endorsed Rep. Bill Pascrell, was scheduled to attend a late-day get-out-the-vote rally with him in Paterson.
Not to be outdone, Rep. Steve Rothman met in the morning with Obama in the Oval Office and then walked with him down the White House colonnade in front of cameras.
The president does not make official endorsements in primary battles. But White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Rothman, an early Obama supporter, is a longtime friend of the president and the two "have worked together on a variety of the president's priorities."Whoever wins the primary Tuesday is almost certain to be elected in November. The solidly Democratic district includes parts of Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties.
Rothman was the biggest loser in redistricting, which resulted in new congressional districts for 2013 as the state lost one House seat due to population changes.
The new map merged districts now represented by Rothman and Republican Rep. Scott Garrett.
Democrats hoped Rothman would take on Garrett in the expanded 5th District. But the new district favored Garrett, containing about 80 percent of the towns he currently represents.
Rothman decided he had a better shot at re-election in the 9th, and taking on Pascrell in the primary.
Pascrell had supported then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 presidential primary.
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