N.J. debate focuses on negative campaigning

WAYNE, N.J. - New Jersey's gubernatorial candidates showed their zest for battle last night as the race's last televised debate turned into a free-for-all over negative campaigning.

Republican Christopher J. Christie, who has been the target of millions of dollars' worth of negative television ads from Democratic Gov. Corzine, started it off.

"Tonight would be a good night to let everybody in on a little secret. . . . In case you haven't noticed over the last eight years I've been in public life, I'm slightly overweight," he said with a smirk. "I don't know what that has to do with being governor of New Jersey."

He was poking fun at Corzine's television ads and campaign literature that show Christie in unflattering poses, one of which says he was "throwing his weight around" when police did not ticket him for driving the wrong way down a one-way street.

To that, Corzine said: "I don't care a hoot about Mr. Christie's weight."

And Chris Daggett, the dominant independent in the race, raised his voice like a parent on his last good nerve to tell both of them to cut it out. He said they were "embarrassing" the state and that voters were "sick of it."

Christie's ads have centered on Corzine's tenure, blaming the governor's policies for the state's flailing economy or defending himself against Corzine's attacks. He has been helped by a series of television ads financed by the Republican Governors Association attacking Corzine and, starting this week, attacking Daggett.

The three debated at William Paterson University.

On substantive issues, such as closing the state's looming $8 billion deficit, Corzine outlined a plan to limit state payments to employee pension funds, accept federal stimulus funds, maintain the state's hiring freeze, and cut expenses.

Christie generally agreed with Corzine, adding that he would wrestle concessions from state employee unions. In an attempt to distinguish himself from the other two candidates, he said he was the only one who would not raise taxes. That brought an accusation from Corzine that Christie's promised but unspecified tax cuts would hike the deficit by billions.

Daggett offered to give Christie a calculator, replaying a pattern that emerged in their first debate on Oct. 1, when both Corzine and Daggett went after Christie.

Daggett has outlined a plan to expand the state sales tax to services such as haircuts and legal fees in order to cut property and corporate taxes, as well as supporting reduced government spending to help cut the deficit.

Both Daggett and Christie called for a rapid expansion of charter schools, and support school vouchers as alternatives to failing public schools. Corzine opposes vouchers and has said the state must carefully determine if charter schools are qualified to educate children.

None of the three said he supported allowing casinos to open in the Meadowlands, asserting that Atlantic City's franchise needed to be protected. However, Daggett said he would consider allowing slot machines at the Meadowlands after a state-supported study of them.

Asked who their favorite Jersey rocker was, all agreed on Bruce Springsteen over Jon Bon Jovi. And all favored the Giants over the Eagles.

Last night's shots among the candidates came as the race tightens in its final days before the Nov. 3 election.

Christie, who held a lead for more than a year over Corzine, is now in a dead heat with the governor, according to independent polls. The most recent, a New York Times poll released yesterday, showed Corzine ahead by 40 percent to Christie's 37 percent among likely voters. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. About 13 percent favored Daggett.

But the numbers on most voters' minds, according to independent polls, have to do with the economy.

This week, the state Department of Labor reported that New Jersey's unemployment figures went up to 9.8 percent from 9.7 percent. And a Corzine administration memo instructed bureaucrats to showcase Corzine's job-creation efforts even if it was "a stretch," according to the Newark Star-Ledger.

Christie's dominant campaign theme has been that New Jersey's unemployment rates are higher than those in Pennsylvania and New York in part because of the governor's tax polices. He says the state's high personal income, real estate, and corporate taxes discourage businesses.

To draw attention from the unemployment figures, Corzine's campaign stuffed reporters' mailboxes with Christie's travel records while he was New Jersey's U.S. attorney, which showed that he sometimes exceeded the government's travel allowance for business trips.

GOP Chairman Jay Webber, a Morris County assemblyman, yesterday said Corzine had been out of state for 330 days and "played hooky" while the economy foundered.

Last night's debate is scheduled to be broadcast at 2 p.m. today on Fox 29.

The Inquirer's editorial board announces its choice in the New Jersey gubernatorial election.