The Democratic attacks are starting to fly in this year’s New Jersey gubernatorial race against former U.S. Attorney and current Republican candidate Chris Christie — even though Christie hasn’t actually won the Republican nomination yet, and is still facing an insurgent conservative candidate in the June 2 primary. It could be an effort to throw the primary to Christie’s opponent — or at least soften him up for the general.
A Democratic 527 group, the Mid-Atlantic Leadership Fund, is now running this attack ad accusing Christie of corruption — that Christie awarded a no-bid government contract to a former U.S. Attorney who had previously declined to file charges against Christie’s brother in a Wall Street scandal:
“Selective prosecutions, contracts for political allies,” the announcer says. “Tell Chris Christie to cooperate with investigators, and tell Congress to end pay-to-play justice.”
Christie’s campaign fired back, pinning the blame on Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine. “Clearly this is an effort to influence the Republican Primary,” Christie consultant Mike DuHaime told reporters. “Jon Corzine may have bought the Democrat Party, but he will not buy the Republican Party.”
It should be noted that 527 groups cannot coordinate their actions with a candidate, so Corzine is almost certainly not behind this. But for what it’s worth, polls have shown Corzine polling better against Christie’s GOP primary opponent, former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, than against Christie.
Christie is now seizing the opportunity to get Republicans to rally around his campaign, with his campaign rolling out this new ad attacking Corzine:
“We’ve seen it before,” says Christie. “Spend enough on negative ads, and maybe we’ll ignore the governor’s record of high taxes, tremendous debt and failed leadership. But we know better.”
