ELEC must choose two of three suitors for GOP debate sponsorship

Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) Executive Director Fred Hermann calls it "Selection Tuesday."

The commission, which requires all candidates who receive public campaign funds to participate in two debates, will farm out the hosting of the Republican gubernatorial primary debate to two applicants on Tuesday, April 7.

Three television stations that are partnered with newspapers, civic groups and a public university have applied for the two spots. 

In one corner are the ABC affiliates from New York and Philadelphia, who applied to host the debate along with the League of Women Voters of New Jersey.  In another is My9, whose reach is limited to the New York media market but has the added heft of being partnered with the state's two biggest dailies: The Star-Ledger and The Record, and William Paterson University.  Finally, there's NJN, working in collaboration with the Gannett New Jersey and the Philadelphia Inquirer - which has hosted an ELEC gubernatorial debate each year since the commission started requiring them in 1989.

So far, it looks like only two candidates will be eligible to participate: former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie and former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan.  The other three, Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham), Franklin Township Mayor Brian Levine and entrepreneur David Brown, are not likely to raise the $340,000 necessary to qualify for public financing, making them ineligible to participate.

Christie, who as the frontrunner in the race might stand to benefit by facing more candidates than just his closest rival, said that he would like to see the other three Republican candidates participate as well.

"I can tell you how difficult it is to raise money out there, and I don't think money should be involved in the decision at all," he said.  "I've watched Rick Merkt, Brian Levine and Dave Brown travel all over the state."

The ELEC commissioners will consider a number of factors in picking the two winners, according to Hermann: the networks' audience reach, pre-debate publicity, time slots, audience selection (if there is an audience) and geography.

"It is a competition, which is always healthy," said Hermann.  "It makes everybody work harder and think of better ways we can do this."

It's up to the ELEC commissioners - not Hermann - to judge which time slots will be most appropriate for the debate.  But he's pretty sure that 3 AM won't do.

Nobody at the ABC stations or League of Women Voters could be reached for comment about their applications, and Hermann said that ELEC cannot release application details until Tuesday.  But NJN and My9 would air the debate at very different periods.

NJN Interim News Director Michael Aron said that he offered the commission air times for four weeknights at 8 p.m. - prime time - with a guaranteed weekend rebroadcast and a simulcast on NJN Public Radio.  The network will also offer the other regional public broadcasting networks and radio stations.

The other stations may dwarf NJN in raw viewership - though much of their audience is in Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware - but Aron said that NJN tends to be the preferred network of those who are actually interested in New Jersey politics.  And while New Jersey politics scarcely gets a mention by the New York and Philadelphia commercial news programs, NJN covers it faithfully.

"I assure you that some other station may have more viewers than us, but nobody will have more informed viewers than us," said Aron.  "We tend to reach the opinion leaders more than on My9."

Secaucus-based My9, on the other hand, is offering a different approach than NJN.  News Director Jim Driscoll said that the network is offering a one-hour spot at noon on a Sunday, which is usually occupied by the network's two New Jersey public affairs shows.

It may be the traditional definition of prime time, but Driscoll said it's the best time to reach viewers who are in a political frame of mind.

"That's when people are in that political mode, watching the Sunday morning talk shows," he said. "We think we have some leverage there because we're giving them a prime time."

While Driscoll was uncertain whether they would rebroadcast the debate, he said they would definitely have the entirety of it available on their Web site.

Lonegan notified ELEC today of his objection to the League of Women Voters as a debate sponsor, calling the group a "left-wing political lobby that advocates a variety of positions far outside the Republican Party mainstream."

Since Gov. Corzine's lone challenger in the Democratic primary is not likely to raise $340,000 and Corzine does not take public funds, the commission will almost certainly not require a Democratic primary debate.

Once the networks are chosen to air the debate, they will have to consult Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson to finalize the plans.