Former President Bill Clinton rallied support for New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine last night, headlining a Democratic Party fundraiser in the party stronghold of Essex County, and then a rally in the nearby town of Little Falls — with a clear focus on encouraging people to vote for Corzine out of the state’s fundamental agreement on Democratic issues.
“It is an important election and elections matter,” said Corzine, whose own net approval ratings are consistently in negative territory. “Elections aren’t really about the candidate, they’re about the direction the society will take, that New Jersey will take. Just think back to 2000, and think what would have happened if the right guy who’d gotten elected had been sworn in.”
Corzine said how if Al Gore had been sworn in after the 2000 election, the country wouldn’t have lost millions of jobs, and there would not have been a war of choice — focusing on the unpopularity of the Bush administration, which just so happened to have appointed Corzine’s Republican opponent Chris Christie as a U.S. Attorney.
When Bill spoke, he talked about the Republican Party’s direction. “The Republicans seem to have two strategies at the state and national level,” said Bill. “One, they left us a terrible mess and they complain that the President isn’t fixing it quickly. And second, their strategy is to just hope that we mess up.”
Bill told the state to not give up on Corzine, that the state’s economic recovery is still dependent on local leadership. “I know that the shape and direction and speed of our emergence from this economic crisis will be uneven throughout the states, and you know it too,” Bill explained. “And I believe the decisions made by governors and the legislatures who work for them will either speed or slow the direction of what’s happening as we are emerging.”
Bill focused on a rhetorical question in his speech: “Why are we having a race?” He said how New Jersey ranks in the top three among states in multiple positive indicators — in education, health care, low mortgage foreclosure rates, etc. So why is it that Corzine is even in a dogfight at all?
“Now here’s the reason this is a race,” Bill said. “The reason this is a race is, times are tough all over. And when times are tough, people vote out of frustration, or in frustration they stay home. People say take out the guy at the top — but not when the guy at the top is part of the solution, not part of the problem.”
Bill has a point in this respect: New Jersey is fundamentally a Democratic state, and the party’s get-out-the-vote efforts will be key in getting Corzine over the finish line. Republicans are generally very motivated these days, so it will come down to the Dems to get out their core voters, and to keep swing voters away from the GOP by reminding them of the Bush years.
Here’s the Corzine campaign’s video of the rally in Little Falls:
