Christie camp strikes at bid to delay debate

Gov. Corzine's challengers in the race to Drumthwacket are crying foul over a proposal to delay a debate by three weeks.

Jeff Brindle, executive director of the state Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), said the state-owned public television network, NJN, asked last week to postpone the date of the debate, hosted by the network, from Oct. 1 to Oct. 22. The challengers blame the move on Corzine.

ELEC's four commissioners, who must approve the debate schedule, are scheduled to discuss the matter in an emergency meeting Monday afternoon.

The other state-sanctioned gubernatorial debate had been scheduled for Oct. 16 and the debate for the lieutenant governor candidates for Oct. 8. By law, the lieutenant governor debate must take place between the two for governor, which means the lieutenant governor debate would also have to be rescheduled if the delay were approved.

The delay would also mean that all three debates would take place within one week.

Corzine's campaign staff declined to comment yesterday on the debates. The governor is not required to participate in the debates, and as of yesterday afternoon he had not submitted the paperwork to indicate that he would do so, Brindle said.

By law, he has until Tuesday to file the paperwork if he wishes to participate.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher J. Christie and Chris Daggett, an independent candidate who has raised enough money to qualify to participate in the debate, think the delay was requested for strategic reasons. Both are receiving public financing for their campaigns and therefore must participate in the debates.

"It remains unclear why the Corzine campaign has requested a three-week delay in this scheduled debate, but the length of the delay is certainly suspicious," Christie campaign manager Bill Stepian said in a letter to ELEC. "Seeking to delay the debate three full weeks appears to be a strategic consideration, not a scheduling conflict."

Daggett noted that if the debate takes place on Oct. 22, it will compete for viewers against the fifth game of the American League championship series.

Daggett, a Yankees fan, said "to insist on moving it to a particular date three weeks later is a blatant attempt to shift the debate into the heart of baseball playoff mania that will most likely include both the Yankees and the Phillies."

"It is an attempt to compress the public debate scheduled into as short a time as possible. It's a voter suppression tactic."

Corzine has trailed Christie consistently in public opinion polls since the start of the year, although recent polls indicate the governor is narrowing the gap.

Daggett has been receiving single digits in most polls, although he also has yet to spend any money on paid media.

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