Christie reaches for the urban vote

Republican gubernatorial nominee Christopher J. Christie, in a play for Democratic and independent voters, announced a "Bringing Back Our Cities" campaign plank yesterday in Camden and two other cities.

At the Bethel Deliverance Church on Kaighns Avenue, he said: "If we don't bring our cities back in this state, economically and spiritually, we do not have a hope of this state being as good as it can be."

On a day a new poll showed his lead over Gov. Corzine growing, Christie argued that revitalizing cities would help kick-start the state's economy. He called for instituting tax incentives for companies that create jobs in cities and building "affordable middle-class" housing there.

On Monday, just three blocks from the church, a man was stabbed and taken to Cooper University Hospital in stable condition, according to police. Christie called for more aggressive law enforcement in urban areas, including a program targeted at the most violent criminals.

He would change the parole law to have violent offenders serve their entire terms, and detain those accused of violent crimes who are flight risks before their trials, rather than letting them out on bail.

His plan, which he also touted yesterday in Trenton and Plainfield, includes his previously announced support of charter schools and vouchers in failing school districts.

Additionally, Christie said he would impose hard standards on urban programs to track their progress through CityTrak, a data-driven program that follows a city's progress by keeping an eye on business development, population, crime, and education.

Similar programs exist in one form or another in most major cities, including Philadelphia and New York.

Christie had hinted at an urban policy during the Republican primary but never announced it as he ran against the more conservative Republican Steve Lonegan.

Also yesterday, a Quinnipiac University poll showed Christie's lead over Corzine growing slightly.

Christie leads Corzine, 53 percent to 41 percent, in the poll of 1,514 likely voters surveyed between July 8 and July 12. The margin of error for the poll was plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

Christie's lead in this poll went up from 50 percent for Christie and 40 percent for Corzine in a June 10 survey.

In a three-way race, including independent candidate Chris Daggett, Christie got 47 percent, while Corzine got 38 percent and Daggett got 8 percent.

Corzine continued to suffer from low approval ratings, but he hopes to begin repairing the damage with a much-anticipated rally with President Obama tomorrow in Holmdel.

Sixty percent of those polled approve of the job Obama is doing. Being associated with the president has helped the governor in the past, according to analysts. During the final weeks of the 2008 presidential campaign, Corzine saw an uptick in his approval ratings.

Corzine also took an endorsement yesterday from the New Jersey Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union.

The union said the governor had increased public-school spending at a time when other state services were cut.

The governor's race remains hard-fought, with the Republican Governors Association starting a new cable and broadcast television ad responding to Corzine's attacks on Christie yesterday.

"Corzine knows he can't defend his own record, so he's falsely attacking Chris Christie," says the ad's announcer.

Corzine has been running ads since the June 2 primary criticizing Christie as a conservative Republican and chiding him for hiring former prosecutors, including his old boss, former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, to monitor corrupt companies while Christie was U.S. attorney.