New Jersey may be best known as rocker Bruce Springsteen's home state, but the Garden State's gubernatorial election is critical for President Barack Obama.

In New Jersey, Republican Chris Christie has been running neck and neck with Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine (pictured above), the former Wall Street executive who has pumped $23 million of his own money into his campaign.

But while Corzine is using personal funds, he's relied on President Obama for personal juice. The president has told New Jersey voters that reelecting Corzine will help him implement his agenda during the rest of his term.

A rejection of Corzine would be viewed, in some part, as a rejection of Obama's agenda. That would be troublesome for the president, who has remained popular in the state.

The president has made several visits to New Jersey during the election season on behalf of Corzine. But evidence of the race's significance was brought home during a call earlier this week to my mother who lives in the northern New Jersey town of Teaneck. She was the proud recipient of not one but two "robocalls" from President Obama begging her to vote for Corzine.

In Virginia, another hotly contested governor's race pits Democrat Creigh Deeds against Republican Bob McDonnell and has also made headlines as a possible measure of Obama's popularity this election season.

Virginia, though, is a traditionally Republican-leaning state, and McDonnell has enjoyed a large lead most of the election season, so a loss there is perceived as less harmful to Obama.

The story is different in New Jersey, though, where Corzine enjoys the power of incumbency as well as the presence of third-party challenger Chris Daggett, who is believed to be taking some votes from Christie.

A Corzine loss in Jersey could well equal an Obama loss nationwide.