For much of this century, it has been a blue-collar factory town on the west bank of the Hudson River, which was so unenviable to landed Americans that it was long ago ceded to the tired, the poor and the huddled immigrant masses.

Corrupt politicians, drugs in the streets and schools so poor that the state had to take them over several years ago made it common for New York-based television stations to cross the Hudson to showcase Jersey City as a tragic example of urban decay and despair.

But things are changing here, and hope is alive -- thanks to "a young man who just really came out of nowhere and represents a revolutionary concept for the Republican Party." That's how the high priest of conservatism, Jack Kemp, describes Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler, who some see as a second coming for inner-city America.

Schundler uses language from street politics to arcane sociological treatises, from bond-trading mechanisms to the Bible, to preach to this overflowing melting pot. But this young mayor has a growing congregation that is not the kind normally found in conservative temples: a lower-to-middle-class population that is 30 percent black, 25 percent Hispanic and 10 percent Asian.

In a special election last November -- held to finish the term of the last mayor, who went to prison on fraud charges Schundler emerged victorious in a field of 19 candidates, becoming the city's first Republican mayor in 75 years.

Democrats called it a fluke and pulled out all the stops to beat him during last May's election. The legendary St. Anthony High School basketball coach from this city, Bobby Hurley Sr., was impressed with Schundler's style, even if Hurley's expectations were humorously humble. "Schundler did a very good job in the few months he was in. He didn't get indicted; he didn't do anything embarrassing. By our standards, that was something," he told us.

Machine politicians unified behind a single Democratic candidate in the general election, bankrolling him with comparatively large political contributions as they dreaded the thought that Schundler would be permanent. But the machine was whipped. Schundler won two-thirds of the vote, despite the fact that registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by 10 to 1.

The voters wanted change and they got it. What Schundler and the citizens of his city have already done to turn the place around has been so extraordinary that it bears watching, especially with dozens of other financially beleaguered cities suffering from similar problems.

Schundler has done more than avoid indictment: He has reduced crime, attracted new businesses and jobs, and brought the nearly bankrupt city from a $40 million deficit in November to a surplus by May, resulting in significantly lower property taxes.

He believes this is only the beginning, and aims to be a two-term mayor who makes Jersey City -- of all places -- "America's Most Lovable City." Schundler has even cynics in the city believing it may have a real future. For conservatives like Kemp, Schundler is "a kind of Lincoln Republican, recognizing that equality of opportunity is what people want."

Schundler's secret weapon may be the local citizens. For one thing, there is a widely respected newspaper, The Jersey Journal, known for solid investigative reporting and an astute veteran political columnist, Peter Weiss.

The city also happens to be a rap music powerhouse, presided over by Queen Latifah whose record label and management company feature some of the hottest names in the business.

Both comedian Flip Wilson and Malcolm Jamal-Warner (of "The Cosby Show") hail from here, and Ozzie Nelson was a football Coach at a local high school.

In addition, many neighborhoods are still neighborly. All the ethnic groups seem to get along with surprisingly little strife. There was no burning or significant demonstration here in the wake of the Rodney King beating trial. Youth gangs fighting for turf and drive-by shootings are virtually unknown.

The old canard was to say that the Statue of Liberty had turned her back on the city. The new answers are numerous, and bespeak city pride. "She trusts us to cover her back," one says. Another: "We're always there behind her, supporting her as she faces New York." Finally: "We are her most loved children, who follow behind, just like any brood follows their mother in the animal kingdom."

If these citizens, these ideas and this mayor can make it a success here, then it really may be a new dawn for urban America.