By JAMES W. PRADO ROBERTS
STAFF WRITER
ASBURY PARK PRESS

The early presidential primaries have produced a major turnabout in the Republican campaign in New Jersey: Sen. John McCain and Rudy Giuliani are now in a statistical dead heat among likely primary voters, according to the latest Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey Poll.

McCain is favored by 29 percent of poll respondents, Giuliani by 25 percent, but the 4 percentage-point difference is within the poll's margin of error. Giuliani had a commanding lead in a similar poll in October.

On the Democratic side, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton continues to hold a strong lead in New Jersey, 12 points over her closest rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

But Clinton's lead has shrunk by 7 points, and the poll shows both Democratic and Republican races are in flux in the Garden State, where likely voters appear to have been swayed by the outcomes of Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries earlier this month.

READ MORE: http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080115/NEWS/801150318

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