NEW YORK, NY July 13, 2009 —Campaigns in the Garden State don't normally get underway in earnest until after Labor Day. But as WNYC's Bob Hennelly reports, this year's Gubernatorial race is a major exception.

REPORTER: Later today Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele will stump Gloucester and Cumberland Counties in Southern Jersey with Republican Gubenatorial hopeful former US Attorney Chris Christie.

On Thursday it will be Governor Jon Corzine's turn to get national party support. He will share the stage with President Obama at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel. Polls show Corzine trailing his GOP rival and President Obama's New Jersey approval ratings are higher than Corzine's.

The Obama event had been scheduled for the Rutgers in New Brunswick but greater than expected demand prompted the move to the almost 18,000-seat Holmdel site.

New Jersey and Virginia are the only states with gubernatorial elections. National groups have already bought major broadcast time on behalf of each candidate in hopes of wooing New Jersey voters. For WNYC, I am Bob Hennelly.