It has been a busy week for the Corzine and Christie campaigns despite heading into what is typically the slowest part of the political year.

Gov. Corzine has spent two days this week playing up his gun control credentials, attempting to further press an issue that he believes shows a clear divide between himself and Republican Chris Christie. In Washington Tuesday, Corzine joined New Jersey's two Senators to bash a proposal that would extend individuals' concealed weapons permits nationwide, regardless of which state they got permission from. Wednesday Corzine joined Attorney General Anne Milgram for a press conference praising a partnership between the state and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that led to gun trafficking charges against 12 people. Corzine has made gun control one of the top "values" issues he has stressed in his attempt to paint Christie as out of touch with New Jersey's blue state sensibilities.

But polls show that Corzine continues to trail and that voters are focused far more on taxes and the economy than issues such as abortion and gun control. Christie got an assist on this front from Senate Republicans, who obtained a memo from the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services showing that Corzine's latest budget could leave an $8 billion deficit heading into next year, if all programs are funded to the levels written in law. (They almost never are, but that hasn't stopped governors, including Corzine, from using such doomsday projections in the past when it helped sell their ideas). Christie said the looming shortfall should make Corzine quit the race in shame.

Christie, meanwhile, has been making the round with his lieutenant governor pick, Kim Guadagno, the Monmouth County sheriff. Speculation has continued to grow about who Corzine will choose as his running mate.

A Monmouth University poll out Tuesday had more bad news for Corzine: voters gave him a C- as governor and most don't think he has any major accomplishments. That prompted an analysis from The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza that concludes that, if the poll is to be believed, Corzine "is rapidly approaching the point of no return."

One last note, to update my earlier post on a problem spelling - the Corzine campaign quickly fixed the error, when they spelled the Inquirer as Enquirer.  

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