I've tried to generally stay away from the New Jersey governor's race here, mostly because my brief experience working in NJ politics left a very sour taste in my mouth, and the machine/corruption/patronage garbage is something I feel like keeping my distance from. It also doesn't help that the two candidates have run an increasingly nasty campaign, with the ads, as always, spilling over into the Philadelphia media market.
There's no escaping; even to get into PoliticsNJ.com, you have to click through ads for both candidates. Worst of all the Forrester ad froom last week that used quotes from Corzine's own ex-wife against him. Had Walter Mondale tried to use Jane Wyman against Reagan, maybe history would have turned out differently.
Anyway, I like Corzine. He's a solid Democrat who's not too loony-left to support- especially since Democratic politics in NJ have a lot more to do with the machine than anything resembling ideology- and there's no reason to hold McGreevey's corruption against Corzine. And besides, that ex-wife ad was just below the belt. Not as below the belt as the Bloomberg/Bush handjob cartoon, but pretty low nonetheless.
Posted by Stephen Silver at November 4, 2005 03:14 PMThere is no need to hold McGreevey's corruption against Corzine, when Corzine has plenty of questionable transactions of his own. After all, he just happened to buy a house for a state employee union boss, and I'm sure there were no strings when it came to all that money he donated to politically active black churches.
Posted by: Tainted Bill at November 5, 2005 10:18 AMNo candidate in NJ is clean...we all know that. NJ, LA and Chicago have the dirtiest politics, in that order.It's sad but true.
Posted by: A at November 6, 2005 11:11 PM