PARSIPPANY -- Sierra Club New Jersey Chapter Director Jeff Tittel made it to the Chris Christie rally after watching independent Chris Daggett, who his group endorsed, give his concession speech.
“Jon Corzine wasn’t true to his base and he lost,” said Tittel. “Groups like the environmentalists are angry at him… so many other progressives and liberal Democrats stayed home.”
It was a different tune than what some of the conservative members of the crowd were saying – that the election was a pushback against Trenton’s overspending and other liberal priorities. And Corzine’s push to nationalize the race by bringing President Obama in to campaign for him was a major appeal the Democratic base.
But Tittel said Corzine made a “big mistake” by bringing Obama in. While the audiences were taken by the President, their ho-hum attitude towards Corzine showed, he said.
Tittel acknowledged that he was disappointed in Daggett’s mid single digit showing.
“He was the candidate everybody liked, but not the one you bring home to your mother,” he said. “In the end, it became a referendum on Corzine, and I think that’s why daggett’s numbers fell.”
Christie courted environmental groups heavily during the campaign, and won the endorsement of one of the New Jersey Environmental Federation. Ben Forest, a board member of the group, stood next to Tittel, smiling. The two groups made different endorsement choices, but were unanimous in their rejection of Corzine, who they both endorsed in 2005.
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It wasn't his base
Reasons for Corzine's defeat:
1) Corzine and his policies
2) Choosing Loretta Weinberg as his LG. Nobody wanted her pushing her idea of the "family agenda."
3) Corzine's commercials trying to make Christie look conservative. Many were not sure who they would vote for until they saw those commercials. They drove the voters to Chirstie.
4) Linking Corzine to Obama. Did not Corzine's people see all the Tea Parties? Did not they realize that the people are fed up with Obama's policies? If people did not realize that Corzine was a Marxist before, bringing in Obama repeatedly surely convinced them.
Reasons for Corzine's defeat cont'd
Corzine.
Agree with DiMarco and Sade...
...that it wasn't his base that was the problem.
But neither was Loretta. She kept it even in Bergen, and there's no way Corzine would have done that without him. Especially when you look at his other suburban performance.
New Jersey is a blue state, not a liberal state. We are fiercely moderate.
Good luck and congrats to the victor, and God help us all.
"She kept it even in Bergen"???
Are you kidding me?
Corzine got 56% of the vote in 2005 in Bergen. This time around he gets to put someone from Bergen on the ballot with him and he gets only a little more than 48% of the vote in Bergen.
There is no question that Corzine sucked, but Weinberg was a minus when Corzine needed a plus.