Desperate Corzine to Inject Himself Into GOP Primary

Lagging far behind Republican Chris Christie, the very unpopular incumbent Governor of New Jersey, Jon Corzine, is tearing a page out of the playbook of Gray Davis, former unpopular Governor of California, in a desperate attempt at winning in November.

The idea is to attack Christie, the GOP frontrunner, in the hopes he's sufficiently wounded for the general election, or, even better for Corzine, handing the GOP primary to former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, the conservative candidate who would have little chance at winning the general election in a very blue state.

Corzine is playing dumb and pretending he has nothing to do with this effort, but there's no question he's working in concert with the Democrat National Committee and other liberal groups who realize what an embarrassment it would be for a Democrat to lose New Jersey this year, realizing it could help propel the GOP in the 2010 midterms.

Allies of New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Jon S. Corzine, are so worried about his re-election prospects that they are going to start spending and advertising heavily — in the Republican primary.

Mr. Corzine’s allies plan to attack the Republican they consider more formidable, the former federal prosecutor Christopher J. Christie, in an attempt to knock him out in the June primary, according to people briefed on the matter.

That would leave Mr. Corzine facing Steven M. Lonegan, a former small-town mayor from the party’s right wing, whose support for a flat income tax and a ban on abortion are popular with conservative voters, but could be a problem in the general election.

Mr. Corzine’s popularity has nosedived along with New Jersey’s economic fortunes, and recent polls show him trailing Mr. Christie, the former United States attorney for New Jersey.

Mr. Christie has based his campaign almost entirely on his credentials as a corruption fighter, having obtained convictions of some 130 New Jersey politicians and public employees and promises to bring the same forceful leadership to tackling the state’s fiscal problems. The Democratic assault, according to one of the people briefed on the plans, will aim to tarnish that image.

The strategy could benefit Mr. Corzine even if it does not result in Mr. Christie’s defeat in the primary, if the Republican is significantly damaged before the general election.

The Democratic intervention in a Republican primary would be reminiscent of a much more brazen move by Gov. Gray Davis of California in 2002. That year, Mr. Davis openly poured $10 million into a blitz of television commercials portraying Richard J. Riordan, the runaway Republican favorite and a moderate, as having changed his positions on abortion, the death penalty and other issues. The ads battered Mr. Riordan, who lost the primary to a conservative neophyte, Bill Simon Jr., and the unpopular Mr. Davis pulled out a win in November.

Whatever it boils down to, come the general election Corzine will focus heavily on two issues that Democrats zero in on every year. Abortion and gun control. While the two issues rank fairly low on the voter's radar in this state, Democrats are obsessed with abortion and lie with impunity about any GOP candidate's stance on guns. It'll be a diversion from the fiscal mess Corzine has created. He doesn't want to discuss his record as he knows it a sure loser.

The assault on Mr. Christie, which is being planned by a group including officials at the Democratic Governors Association and other Democratic donors and strategists, is not being coordinated with the governor or his aides, said the people briefed on the plans.

“It’s the first I’m hearing of it,” said Robert Asaro-Angelo, executive director of the Democratic state committee. “We’ll focus on our opponent when the Republican primary is over.”

These people are such brazen liars. Like outside groups are going to willy-nilly insert themselves in local politics and the governor is unaware.

As if.

Whatever the case, Christie's people say bring it on.

Mr. Christie’s top strategist, Michael DuHaime, greeted the Democratic plan like a badge of honor. “This move is unsurprising, given that Chris Christie is the only Republican who can beat Jon Corzine,” he said.