New Jersey Governor's Race Turns Nasty

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

In New Jersey, a Republican has not been elected to statewide office in more than 10 years. But this year, the state's very unpopular Democratic governor, Jon Corzine, is struggling to hang on to his job. Corzine is a former senator and former chairman of Goldman Sachs. And in the vote next month, he's up against two opponents: Republican Chris Christie and Independent Chris Daggett.

NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson has the latest.

MARA LIASSON: It's a typical New Jersey campaign: low-minded, negative, and getting very personal. Here's an ad from Governor Corzine attacking his Republican opponent, former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie.

(Soundbite of political ad)

Unidentified Man #1: Christie threw his weight around as U.S. attorney and got off easy. If you didn't pay your taxes, ignored ethics laws, would you get away with it?

LIASSON: The Corzine campaign says the ads are about Christie's ethics. But Christie is a very large man, and that throwing your weight around line is a not very subtle jab at his size.

Rutgers' political scientist Cliff Zukin says this is over the top, even for New Jersey.

Professor CLIFF ZUKIN (Public Policy and Political Science, Rutgers University): To make fun of someone's physical shape, I don't think we've ever seen that in New Jersey. You know, and the Corzine ads are pretty brutal. I mean, they'll show this guy getting out of the car, you know, with his backend coming at you. And what the Corzine campaign is trying to argue is if he doesn't have enough self-discipline to govern his own weight, how can he possibly govern the State of New Jersey?

LIASSON: And just in case voters didn't get the point, a very fit Corzine is often found literally running for office in jogging shorts. Just this Tuesday, he and Mayor Cory Booker took a run through the streets of Newark. Zukin says Corzine's attack adds are good example of the only way an incumbent with a 56 percent disapproval rating can win, by making voters like his opponent even less.

Professor ZUKIN: Midterm elections are almost always a referendum on the incumbent. And New Jerseyans started thinking: do they want four more years of Jon Corzine, and the answer was no. But New Jerseyans have also been asking if Christie is unacceptable, and Jon Corzine spent many millions of dollars painting him that way.

Governor JON CORZINE (Democrat, New Jersey): They call that negative. I call it contrast.

LIASSON: That's Governor Corzine, who talked to us after a campaign event in Lyndhurst on Tuesday. He said the economy is one of the reasons he has to run this kind of campaign.

Governor CORZINE: I'd love to make the positive case, but if people aren't responding to positive cases because, you know, their neighbor lost their job, somebody in their family lost their job because of very weakened economy, you have to at least give reasons why the other person in contrast is not going to solve those problems.

Unidentified Man #2: The next governor of the State of New Jersey, Chris Christie.

(Soundbite of applause)

LIASSON: Just hours earlier, Chris Christie was at the Fair Lawn Community Center, answering questions from voters and attacking Jon Corzine.

Mr. CHRIS CHRISTIE (Republican, Gubernatorial Candidate): He wants to spend the next three weeks doing what he's been doing for most of the last year, which is to hide behind his big pile of Wall Street money and all the negative ads it can buy. And he doesn't want to talk about the issues that are of a concern to you.

LIASSON: The issue that concerns Christie is taxes.

Mr. CHRISTIE: Jon Corzine and Chris Daggett want higher taxes, bigger government, more government programs to take more of your money and to intrude more into your life. Now, if that's the kind New Jersey you want, listen…

LIASSON: Christie is attacking Corzine and Daggett. And no, Daggett is not Corzine's running mate. He is the third candidate in this race, a former Republican EPA official turned Independent. In the latest Quinnipiac poll, the race has turned from a clear Christie lead into a dead heat between Corzine and Christie, with Daggett gaining support at Christie's expense. Daggett has the potential to determine the winner in this race, a position he's clearly enjoying, as he stood between Corzine and Christie in a debate last week.

Unidentified Man #3: Mr. Daggett, rebuttal?

Mr. CHRIS DAGGETT (Independent, Gubernatorial Candidate): Sounds like both these two guys might vote for me.

(Soundbite of laughter)

LIASSON: Third party candidates usually fade by Election Day because voters don't think they can win, so Corzine needs to stop Daggett's voters from returning to Christie and Christie needs to win them back. Over the remaining 19 days, the race will probably get even nastier and New Jersey voters will see a barrage of new ads like these.

(Soundbite of political ad)

Unidentified Woman: Jon Corzine's New Jersey: 8.9 billion in new taxes in fees, the highest taxes in the nation, the worst unemployment in the region. Now, Corzine asks for four more years?

(Soundbite of political ad)

Unidentified Man #4: Oh, what can you expect from Chris Christie: a governor who'll repeat the failed Bush economics, a governor opposed to a woman's right to choose, even supporting a constitutional amendment banning abortion.

LIASSON: Up until now, Corzine - who can spend his own money - has had a huge advantage on the air, but that will soon change. Christie is taking public financing, and he's been saving up his dollars for a big advertising blitz. That will probably level the playing field in this already too-close-to-call race.

Mara Liasson, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.