Unless one of the candidates smokes the rest of the field tonight, the political animal egos of the losers likely won't allow them to let go.

If it's a squeaker, look for most - or some of the key - contenders to reset and run again in the June Primary.

Today is a special election, with a special general in April.

But the incumbent has to run in June and in the November general to secure a full, two-year term.

So, unless tonight's winner looks like a world beater, sources suspect campaign headquarters to remain operational for the losers.

"I can safely predict the top four finishers, I just have the order," a source confided to InsiderNJ.

Certainly, the winner of the primary will have a leg-up on county party organization backing or could make the case that in the name of respecting the will of the voters, the county organizations should back the winner. But what if the second and third place finishers team up and take on the county machines? Or what if the machines, such as they are, if the term even applies anymore in the aftermath of the expungement of the county organization brackets, zigzag in different direction again?

All of it adds up to one thing:

An inconclusive night short of a Goliath performance by someone, and no one thinks, or says - that will happen.

"Someone can win with 20% of the vote," an insider gloomily opined a few minutes ago.

As for the flow of the election, sources say it's slow in Morris and Passaic, but that the VBM performance by Morris, which contains the largest portion of CD-11, handily outpaces Essex.

Essex today is running a few points ahead of Morris overall (18,231 to 16,323).

Finally, who's going to have best ground game likely turns into who's going to have the most money for the longer haul of the next leg of the journey.