Candidates for N.J. governor mount final push

With one week to go until Election Day, Democratic Gov. Corzine is bringing back the national star power, Republican Christopher J. Christie is planning to get on the air, and independent Chris Daggett is firing up the tour bus.

"We intend to close the deal this week," Christie said in a radio interview yesterday, summing up what may be the attitude for all three campaigns.

Corzine is counting on visits today by former President Bill Clinton and on Sunday by President Obama, who will be in Camden at 1:20 p.m., to help put him over the top in a tight campaign.

Christie's campaign has promised its biggest ad buy of the race and a tour of the state's 21 counties.

Daggett, who is planning to start a statewide tour Friday in Camden and Burlington Counties, yesterday cast himself as the only realistic alternative to Corzine, telling the Associated Press: "It's either going to be Jon Corzine or me."

The comment was a slap at Christie, who led in polls of prospective voters through the summer but slipped as Corzine deluged the media with questions about the Republicans' values and ethics.

Christie told WCBS-AM in New York City that his campaign was "in very, very good position" despite being hammered by attack ads.

Daggett has gained ground on Christie and Corzine but trails both by significant margins in public-opinion polls.

Both Christie and Corzine, the only governor seeking reelection this year in the midst of the national recession, spent much of yesterday doing cable-television and radio interviews.

Corzine continued to play up his ties to Obama.

"It's very helpful that a popular president believes that I can be a better partner with him than the other candidates in the race," Corzine said in a morning appearance on Fox 5 in New York.

On Saturday, the governor's campaign launched four television ads, including one of Obama speaking directly to the camera in English and Spanish, urging voters to support his fellow Democrat. Urban and minority voters make up a key part of the party's base in the state.

The president's visit this weekend will be Obama's third trip to New Jersey on Corzine's behalf.

The Corzine camp has aggressively targeted "surge" voters, who normally come out only for presidential elections and showed up in vast numbers for Obama last year. At a rally headlined by Obama last week, aides wore "Yes We Can 2.0" T-shirts, reprising the theme the popular president rode to victory.

Clinton is scheduled to visit North Jersey today as the campaign seeks to use big names and a contrast in values to excite Democrats about Corzine, who does not generate much public affection.

"As we get closer to Election Day, it's all about energy," said Corzine campaign director Maggie Moran.

Emphasizing the contrasts in values between Republicans and Democrats is part of a plan to show voters "it's worthy to come out" and vote in the gubernatorial race, she said.

The Christie camp also is focusing on contrasts, but while Corzine says his Republican opponent is out of touch with New Jersey residents on health care, gun control, and abortion, the GOP is trying to drive the debate toward taxes. In his latest ad, Christie says both Corzine and Daggett would raise taxes, while he would cut them.

The message, said senior Christie campaign adviser Mike DuHaime, is that the race features "two guys who want to raise taxes and spending and raise tolls vs. one guy who wants to cut spending."

DuHaime said the Christie camp planned to spend more this week than at any other point in the campaign, though he expected to be outpaced by Corzine, a multimillionaire who has spent more than $120 million on three statewide races.

Christie also is counting on help from former New Jersey Govs. Christie Whitman and Thomas H. Kean Sr. and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, all Republicans. While most nationally known Republicans are unpopular in the state, Kean and Whitman are considered moderates and won statewide elections, and Guiliani is well-known from his actions after 9/11.

Christie, asked about Clinton and Obama, continued to say the race was not about high-profile endorsements.

"When all these folks come in and campaign, they get on the plane and leave, and if you vote for Jon Corzine, we're going to be stuck with him," Christie said in his WCBS interview. "We can't afford another four years of Jon Corzine."

Christie and the Republican Governors Association have attacked Daggett, trying to prevent him from siphoning away anti-Corzine voters.

The Daggett campaign, with little money and no natural political base, welcomes the attention, said Mark Magyar, Daggett's policy director.

Daggett is trying to score a historic upset with a bus tour that his campaign hopes will convince the public he can win. He plans to tout his property-tax plan and tell prospective voters where they can find his name on the ballot.

"We're spending a lot of time over the last week telling voters where to find us," Magyar said.

While Democrats and Republicans hold the top two columns in every county, independents such as Daggett and nine relatively little-known gubernatorial candidates are arranged randomly, potentially making it difficult for supporters to find their names in the voting booth.

On Saturday, the day after he launches his statewide tour, Daggett will begin his day in Gloucester County.

And while Magyar conceded that his campaign would be far outspent by Corzine's and Christie's, Daggett has a new television ad ready to air and hopes for media coverage to help get his name out.

With polls showing Daggett winning as much as 20 percent of voter support in a campaign featuring three major candidates, Magyar said, "we can win this election."