Redistricting pits Congressmen against each other

  Eyewitness NewsTRENTON -- New Jersey's marque primary race has engaged President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton - on opposite sides.

Obama lent a campaign hand to Rep. Steve Rothman. Clinton is siding with Rep. Bill Pascrell.

The two Democratic congressmen expect a close race Tuesday in the fight to represent the newly drawn 9th District in Bergen, Hudson and Passaic counties.

The Democrats are locked in a rare incumbent vs. incumbent campaign because legislative districts were reconfigured this year and New Jersey is losing a seat.

The 59-year-old Rothman and the 75-year-old Pascrell have each served in Congress since 1997.

Voters in Essex, Hudson and Union counties will decide whether to send Newark City Council President Donald Payne Jr. to Washington to assume his late father's open seat. Fellow Newark Councilman Ron Rice, state Sen. Nia Gill and three others are also vying for the seat.

The winners in both House races are almost guaranteed November victories in the solidly Democratic districts.

Presidential primaries are also on the ballot, but the outcome isn't in dispute.

---
GET MORE POLITICAL NEWS FROM EYEWITNESS NEWS AND ABC NEWS

---
Get Eyewitness News Delivered

Facebook | Twitter | Newsletters | Text Alerts

(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Get more Politics & Elections »

new jersey politics, politics & elections
// perform JavaScript after the document is scriptable.OTV.common.modules.promoCarousel.promoCarouselInit("/wabc/xml?id=5758260&ptnr=promoCarousel");

(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

View the original article here