2009 New Jersey Governor's Race

[YRABNNRM]

I've seen a few spots attacking Christie for apparently advocating "pay to play" politics.

[cinyc]

I've seen a few spots attacking Christie for apparently advocating "pay to play" politics.

Supposedly by Corzine's people, if you believe Christie's rebuttal ad. 

The NJ ad war has really heated up on NYC OTA TV - now, probably an ad or two every local programming ad break during the news and 7PM hour.  Some other PAC is running an ad for Congressman Lance (R).  Is he facing a primary challenge?

[Keystone Phil]

I've seen a few spots attacking Christie for apparently advocating "pay to play" politics.

I saw this earlier today as well.

[Rowan]

Corzine has two ads out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRJfVfQ1Zpo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tBgrg9kjNM

[Mr.Phips]

The Democrats will pull out all of the stops in this race.  They know that they cannot afford to lose both this race and Virginia this year.  The last time this happened to Democrats was in 1993 and that we all know what happened after that. 

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

The NJ ad war has really heated up on NYC OTA TV - now, probably an ad or two every local programming ad break during the news and 7PM hour.  Some other PAC is running an ad for Congressman Lance (R).  Is he facing a primary challenge?

No.  Lance won't even face a serious Democrat.

[Rowan]

Mitt Romney to endorse Christie this Thursday.

[Zarn]

I thought Christie had a chance, too.

[Lunar]

Mitt Romney to endorse Christie this Thursday.

Romney endorses Christie, Huckabee endorses Rubio

Funny, ain't it?  The politics of winners and losers mixes in with the politics of ideology


expect it to continue

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Romney could be helpful to Christie in fundraising, though I wonder if Christie really needs the help (especially when you consider New Jersey's constrictive and generous public financing law, which Christie has stated he intends to stay within the bounds of).

In any case, Romney needs Christie in 2012 much more than Christie needs Romney in 2009.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Well, I'd like to think Romney has pull in North Jersey.  He was relatively popular* here during the Primary.  Odds are it's pretty irrelevant though.  Just an important connection and investment in the future, like Huckabee-Rubio.

*While losing, literally, over 99% of the towns in the state of New Jersey to McCain.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

After he had already lost.  Notice the active word, "relatively".

I noted the word relatively, and just wanted to further note its importance.

In a sample of North Jersey, Romney got a maximum 32% of the vote in Sussex County, 28% in the most populous Bergen, and a low of 24% in Hudson.

In South Jersey, he was consistently mired in the 20s, moreso in the lower 20s than high.

[cinyc]

After he had already lost.  Notice the active word, "relatively".

That's a little bit of revisionist history.  New Jersey's primary was February 5, Supercalifragalistic Tuesday.  Romney was still very much campaigning and in the race.  Losses in Missouri (narrow) and California (big) that day knocked Romney out.

To say Romney's endorsement is meaningless because he lost New Jersey is a stretch, though.  He's fairly well respected, even among the 70% or so who didn't vote for him in the primary.  And I'd bet he performed best among  self-described Republican conservatives in the primary - the very voters Lonegan is targetting.

[Rowan]

Rasmussen NJ GOP Primary
Christie 46%
Lonegan 35%

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_2009/new_jersey/election_2009_new_jersey_republican_primary_for_governor

[Rowan]

Research 2000/KOS NJ GOV
Christie 46%
Corzine 39%

Lonegan 43%
Corzine 40%

http://www.dailykos.com/statepoll/2009/5/27/NJ/306

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

As of 11 days before the primary, the cash-on-hand totals are as follows:

"Christie had $2,347,552 cash on hand, compared to $304,029 for Steven Lonegan and $692 for Rick Merkt."

[Keystone Phil]

Rasmussen NJ GOP Primary
Christie 46%
Lonegan 35%

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_2009/new_jersey/election_2009_new_jersey_republican_primary_for_governor

Uh...I really hope that's not accurate.

[Zarn]

Rasmussen NJ GOP Primary
Christie 46%
Lonegan 35%

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_2009/new_jersey/election_2009_new_jersey_republican_primary_for_governor

Uh...I really hope that's not accurate.

Sorry, Lonegan is not going to win.

[Keystone Phil]

Rasmussen NJ GOP Primary
Christie 46%
Lonegan 35%

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_2009/new_jersey/election_2009_new_jersey_republican_primary_for_governor

Uh...I really hope that's not accurate.

Sorry, Lonegan is not going to win.

Why are you apologizing?

What is with people here thinking I want Lonegan to win even though I've stated my distaste for the man several times?

I don't want Lonegan to win. Not even for comedic purposes. I think people think I want Lonegan because I "want" my prediction of a Corzine win in November to be true. That really doesn't matter since I expect Corzine to beat Christie anyway. I'd really love to be wrong because the last thing I want is the Dems spinning a Corzine victory as a horrible sign for the national GOP.

[Rowan]

Yeah, I really hope a poll showing my candidate up double-digits 5 days before the primary isn't accurate.

[Keystone Phil]

Yeah, I really hope a poll showing my candidate up double-digits 5 days before the primary isn't accurate.

Yeah, I really hope a poll showing 19% of voters are undecided just five days before a primary especially in a low turnout race isn't accurate. That usually is bad news for my candidate considering he has every structural advantage and when he's the only sane major candidate in the race.

Seriously, Brandon, you never bother to acknowledge that Christie ought to be doing better. You resort to this childish, "Christie will do fine because I said so" routine all the time. How can you not acknowledge that 19% of voters undecided just five days before a primary is horrible news for Christie? His lead is only 11%. That's nothing with so many people undecided and when turnout is expected to be low!

[Rowan]

Yeah, I really hope a poll showing my candidate up double-digits 5 days before the primary isn't accurate.

Yeah, I really hope a poll showing 19% of voters are undecided just five days before a primary especially in a low turnout race isn't accurate. That usually is bad news for my candidate considering he has every structural advantage and when he's the only sane major candidate in the race.

Seriously, Brandon, you never bother to acknowledge that Christie ought to be doing better. You resort to this childish, "Christie will do fine because I said so" routine all the time. How can you not acknowledge that 19% of voters undecided just five days before a primary is horrible news for Christie? His lead is only 11%. That's nothing with so many people undecided and when turnout is expected to be low!

Because I know 19% aren't really undecided. I trust Quinnipiac to have a better handle of the GOP primary electorate than Rasmussen.

Of course, I would like Christie to be doing better, but he doesn't need a blowout win in the primary. Any win is sufficient. But when you have an opponent running hard to your right to appeal to the hard conservatives in the primary, of course you aren't going to win a landslide. I still have no reason to believe Lonegan will win except in the case of a nuclear attack where no one can get to the polls.

[East Coast Republican]

OH EMMM GEEE FIRST POST EVER LAWLZZZZ

KeystonePhil, maybe he thinks you're against Christie because you've been really critical of Republicans in Jersey and have been the first to criticize all poll numbers.  I know that when Christie started pulling ahead back in January you dismissed the numbers as insignificant.  Even when 5 polls showed him ahead you were still dismissive.  It took, what, 10 polls for you to finally say 'Ok, he has a shot.'  For a while, it appeared that you were just like the fake Senator from your state-it was hard to determine what side you wanted to succeed.

I know you want Christie to win but your lack of enthusiasm is really bothering a couple of other people here-but not me.

[Dan the Roman]

Really I am not going to post that Christie has no chance, but I would caution that while I believe the polls right now, no Republican not named Christie Todd Whitman has won in the state since the early 80s, and it needs to be noted that Whitman only one by 1% in both her races in which she was heavily favored. Anyone who thinks Christie will win this by 7 or 8 points is smoking something strong. Christie may well win, and I think he is is probably favored now, but I fully expect the race to close to 3 or 4 points within a couple of months once Corzine is fully on the air.

[justfollowingtheelections]

Some reasons why Corzine should be re-elected (not that I expect the NJ posters on this message board, but whatever):

Corzine was the first to come out with a stimulus plan – late last year.

In October 2008, as then-Presidential candidate John McCain was claiming that the "fundamentals of the economy were strong" and many prominent Republicans were denying the very real economic crisis facing families all across this country, Governor Corzine gave a speech before a joint session of the state legislature to outline an economic stimulus package that focused on job creation, prevention of mortgage foreclosures and increasing credit available to businesses..  Just this past week, New Jersey’s debt rating and economic indicators were given an impressive report, with some caveats:

"The underlying strength of the state’s economy, highlighted by a diverse economic base," and New Jersey’s "high wealth and income levels, which continue to be among the highest of the 50 states," impressed S&P, according to its report.

Helping employers remain in business and strengthen the state’s unemployment fund

Another area where Corzine was able to directly help businesses of all sizes in the state is the area of unemployment taxes, which are predominantly paid by employers.  For nearly 15 years before Corzine’s term began, Governors transferred close to $5 billion from the state’s unemployment reserve fund to pay for other budgetary items, including hospital charity care – which is a program very much needed, but was never properly funded.  This severely depleted the unemployment fund, and employers were faced with potential increased unemployment tax costs as early as 2008.  Not only did Corzine discontinue this practice, he was able to transfer over $500 million BACK INTO this fund in 2008 and 2009 and keep employers from facing increased unemployment taxes for the past two years.

Environmental issues

On the environmental front, there were some significant successes as well.  In 2007, Governor Corzine signed the Global Warming Response Act, which set aggressive but necessary goals to combat global warming as the Bush administration was still denying its very existence and impact on the environment.  This very important piece of legislation would reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, and reduce by 80% of 2006 levels by the year 2050.

Helping those who need help the most

In late 2008, Corzine signed a bill that would help thousands of NJ residents stay in their homes and would help in their time of need:

New Jerseyans facing home foreclosure, those who can't afford their heating bills, and the increasing number turning to food pantries for meals all got a boost from legislation enacted today.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine signed a bill authorizing $22.5 million for legal assistance, energy and food aid.

He has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars for hundreds of thousands of NJ households for food banks and energy assistance.  And if you want more, here are a few thousand more links about Corzine and his work in keeping food banks afloat.

Marriage Equality

- Corzine has said he would sign a marriage equality bill.  Both Christie and Lonegan are homophobes who would fight against equal rights and same sex marriage.  Need I say more about this?

******************************

Could he have done more?  Of course.  Did he get everything he wanted to do accomplished?  With the debt he inherited and the crashing economy – nobody could.  But he has cut spending not once but twice in a row - something not done in a very very long time.  And as I have pointed out, it is very easy to find some very good things he has done for the state.

As for his opponents – Lonegan would propose a flat tax of under 3%, giving the upper upper income earners a windfall.  He would gut just about everything and ruin NJ’s business climate, as well as many of the things that progressives hold dear.  Christie is a walking contradiction – he would cut property tax, income tax, business tax, lay off tens of thousands of state workers and still have billions of dollars in deficits to close.  In short – Christie offers everyone a pony with no way to pay for it, and Lonegan will dramatically shift wealth to the upper 5% of NJ incomes

from dailykos.com