Christie campaign sees DGA play as Corzine-Lonegan tag team

Maintaining a single field of fire, the campaign of Chris Christie issued a two-for-one blast at movement conservative Steve Lonegan and Gov. Jon Corzine, linking the pair of would-be rivals by virtue of the Democratic Governors' Association’s decision to attack Christie in the Republican Primary.

Democrats so fear Christie’s advance into the general election that they cannot contain themselves from aligning with movement conservative Steve Lonegan, Christie’s allies charge.

“Jon Corzine is afraid of his record and afraid of a conservative candidate like Chris who has a plan to cut taxes, slash wasteful spending and make New Jersey a place where opportunity thrives,” campaign manager Bill Stepien wrote in a message to the gubernatorial candidate’s supporters. “The only option Corzine has is to attack because he has nothing else to stand on.”

The New York Times said there is no certainty how much Democrats will spend attacking Christie in the primary but note there are no strictures on how much donors can give, and the DGA is free to take “money from all comers, including corporations and unions... It also received $100,000 from Mr. Corzine himself..."

Instead of proposing solutions, Jon Corzine, DC Democrats and Steve Lonegan have teamed up to attack the one candidate in the race who has real, conservative answers to our state's fiscal debacle,” said Stepien, who then twisted in a diss of the rival party’s moniker for good measure in a gloves off Republican Primary. 

“This is the time for us to show Governor Corzine, the Democrat Governors' Association and Steve Lonegan that unlimited dollars, dirty tricks and negative campaigning will not win you the Governor's office,” Stepien wrote. “You need good ideas and a commitment to New Jersey's future.”

In response to the email blast, Democratic State Chairman Joe Cryan insisted he and the upper echelons of his party’s operations didn’t know about the DGA’s decision to play here. It doesn’t surprise him – he said he just didn’t know about it.

“The governor’s campaign is only focused on the Republican nominee, whoever that may be,” Cryan said.

Relentlessly on message, Lonegan campaign strategist Rick Shaftan charged the DGA with leaking the story to the New York Times as a way of trying to generate mega press coverage prior to the ads running, which he argues undermines the argument that they truly want to damage Christie.

“If they really wanted to hurt Chris Christie, they would just run the ads, but they want publicity for the ads, which means they fear Steve Lonegan,” Shaftan said. “It’s reverse psychology.”