"Trudging" applies only to the snow on the ground, and maybe more to come in an otherwise best described (gloved) nailbiter of a special Democratic Primary election contest.

On the eve of the first day of early voting, no one really knows what will happen next Thursday when voters in the 11th Congressional District go to the polls to pick a new federal representative to succeed Mikie Sherrill.

Sherill gave up her seat in the 11th to assume the governorship after prevailing in last November's statewide general election.

Now 11 people want that plum of a perch on a short runway in an intensifying collision of air and ground wars against the backdrop of people getting killed by law enforcement officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the eviscerating and suffocating sulfuric stench of the Trump presidency.

According to the New Jersey Monitor, former U.S. Rep. Tom Malinowski raised the most money ($1.2

million), followed by Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill (just shy of a million), to lead the field. The same two candidates respectively racked the endorsements of the Morris (27 towns) County Democratic and Essex (15 towns) County Democratic organizations. The Passaic (four towns) County Democratic Organization endorsed both former Lieutenant Governor Tahesha Way and Passaic County Commissioner John Bartlett.

Gill burnishes a significant amount of labor support, which contributes to the perception of his superior ground game - certainly in Essex. The combination of party

organization and labor backing gives Gill a home county edge. Malinowski excels at detailed progressive messaging and, with the support of U.S. Senator Andy Kim and a core of anti-machine supporters in Morris, looks to have an edge there, and key support in Milburn, a town he served while congressman in the neighboring 7th District.

Activist/organizer Analilia Mejia hosted the biggest event of any of the candidates earlier this month when she brought in U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, whose presidential campaign she ran, and scored the further endorsement of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among other progressive sitting representatives.  A bonified progressive, Mejia has arguably most

aggressively and persuasively made the case against the Trump Administration's unjust deployment of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), making repeated appearances at Delaney Hall in Newark. She also has the backing of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka (pictured top left with Essex Democratic Committee Chairman Jones) and SEIU. With Baraka reinforcing Bernie world, how significantly does she saw into Gill's Essex core?

Way - who has raised over a half a million dollars toward her bid - received critical ad support ($1.3 million) from the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association PAC.

The final days of the contest got uglier than the rest of the contest when United Democracy Project, the AIPAC-affiliated super PAC, said it turned on Malinowski with $1.5 million worth of ads because “he

talks about conditioning aid” to Israel. “That’s not a pro-Israel position, and he knows it. There are other candidates in the race who are far more pro-Israel than Tom Malinowski,” said Patrick Dorton, a spokesman for the group.

On his social media page, Malinowski, according to InsiderNJ columnist Fred Snowflack, in a video said [AIPAC's advertising] makes him, "so f... furious." He called on his fellow candidates to condemn the ad.

The perceived frontrunner (mostly based on Morris and his name ID as a former congressman and policy savvy) heading into the closing week of the contest, Malinowski appeared now encumbered by the clunkiest target on his candidacy as everyone headed for the finish line. Saddled somewhat with the stigma of moving into the district that's relatively safe as opposed to fighting it out in the district where he chaired a segment of the 7th District and hit from all sides for failing to disclose his stock trades while he served in Congress, he had to stave off the late splurge of pummeling AIPAC ads. He had the money, but was this how he envisioned having to spend it?

For her part, the LG had lined up three fundraisers heading into the weekend, while Mejia and Gill appeared heavily into GOTV activities. Gill, in particular, seemed buttressed for the final days with some significant local endorsements and the perception of strong organization.

Then there's everyone else, all the other contenders, who may possess unseen methods of breaking through and winning or who contribute to strategically weakening the perceived top tier candidates.

Passaic County Democratic Committee Chairman John Currie addressed the especially frenzied contest. "I think the party losing the line is not a good thing," said the long-serving county chair, former state party chairman, in reference to the successful Andy Kim lawsuit that dematerialized primary ballot bracketing. "I think it hurts party organization Progressives will say county party organizations are not fair, but I do think this way, the way it is now, it hurts the party.

"There's too much fracture," Currie added. "I don't think Andy Kim did our party any favors."

With all the contenders, someone could win with 20K votes and have to worry about competing in a general election without a unified party behind him/her. That said, whoever wins next Thursday's election will have to run again in the regularly scheduled June primary, and presumably more than just a few people have designs on competing in that contest, too.

Does Currie see longer term reforms to modify the primary process?

"I think it's definitely a possibility," he said. "I've had some people, active good Democrats, tell me they are not happy with what he [Kim] did. It could affect us down the road as we try to pick up seats in Congress. Many younger people don't believe in any party anymore."

Essex County Democratic Committee Chairman LeRoy Jones said whether the line stays or goes doesn't impact what he does. "It all comes down to going out and executing," he said. "Nothing's really changed. With good candidates and good organization, a win is possible.

"This primary, this special primary, is a little bit more complicated," he acknowledged.

In part, because of the weather.

"But again," said Jones, "it's how well you maneuver through unexpected challenges, which has always been the case."