Romney Beats Obama in NJ Cockroach Race

It remains to be seen what happens in November, but Romney has defeated Obama in a New Jersey race in August.

The contestants Thursday were not the president and his Republican challenger, but rather a couple of Madagascar hissing cockroaches standing in for the candidates.

Phillip Cooper, vice president of the New Jersey Pest Management Association, tells The Star-Ledger that it was a close, clean race.

The Cockroach Derby is a regular event for the group, which uses it to drum up publicity. Thursday's event was the 16th.

It's also proven a decent predictor of the presidential elections. The group says the candidate represented by the winning roach has won the presidential election 84 percent of the time.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)