Christopher Christie

Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie has seized on Gov. Jon Corzine's statement to the New York Times that he would consider revisiting asset monetization in his next term - a political gift to Christie with just days to go before the election.

"As if $9 billion in new taxes, the highest tax burden in the country and the highest property taxes in the nation isn't enough, Jon Corzine wants to pay off the debt he's created by making suffocating New Jerseyans pay even more in the form of an 800 percent toll hike. Let's face it, Jon Corzine likes raising taxes and he's never going to stop doing it," said Christie in a statement this morning.

Corzine told the Times that the original plan was "too big, too fast, and at the wrong time," but that "this idea worked... So maybe we just need to scale it back."

Republican leaders latched onto the statement as well, each offering their own condemnation of the two-year-old plan that entailed leasing the state's toll roads to private entities, who would make a profit by raising tolls.  The plan met with a cranky public at town hall meetings in most of the state's counties, and marked the beginning of Corzine's decline in public opinion polls. 

Now the Corzine campaign has been forced to push back hard. Corzine spokesman Sean Darcy said that the Governor is not open to revisiting the plan to lease the state's toll roads or raise tolls at all.

"He's not goign to lease the toll roads. He has no plans to raise tolls, period," he said.  "He's talked about looking at options like selling signage and space for charging stations for electric vehicles."

Republican Christopher Christie has a seven point lead, 43%-35%, over Gov. Jon Corzine among likely voters, with 8% for independent Christopher Daggett, according to a poll conducted by Neighborhood Research, a survey firm run by conservative strategist Rick Shaftan. 

Corzine has upside-down favorables of 26%-48%, while Christie is at 34%-25% and Daggett at 11%-12%.

Among voters who say they will definitely vote, Christie leads 44%-35%-8%.  Among definite voters, Corzine has an upside-down 26%-50% favorable rating; Christie is at 36%-26%, and Daggett is at 11%-12%.

A Research 2000 poll commissioned by Daily Kos, a progressive website, has Republican Christopher Christie with a 42%-41% -- a statistical dead heat - with independent Christopher Daggett at 14%.   

Among independents, Christie leads 48%-33%, with 16% for Daggett.  Corzine has 78% of Democrats and Christie has 82% among Republicans.  The poll gives Corzine a 44%-40% lead in North Jersey, with 13% for Daggett, and Christie a 48%-32% lead in South Jersey, with 17% for Daggett.

If Joe Ferriero wants a little payback before he heads off to prison, he can do it on Tuesday by voting against Chris Christie.

New Jersey state law allows convicted felons to vote up until the time of their sentencing.  Ferriero is among a long list of political leaders who have either been convicted or pleaded guilty but have not yet been sentenced. 

Ferriero, the former Bergen County Democratic Chairman, was convicted last week on one count of extortion and two counts of mail fraud that were brought against him last year by federal prosecutors while Christie was serving as U.S. Attorney. 

Six Jersey City officials and political candidates arrested in July and have already entered guilty plea still have the right vote in the November 3 gubernatorial election - and perhaps use the opportunity to extract a small measure of revenge against Christie, whose office initiated the sting operation that ensnared them.

Solomon Dwek, the real estate developer-turned-FBI informant, would also be allowed to vote - if he was registered.  Monmouth County Superintendent of Elections Hedra Siskel said that she has no record of Dwek on the voter rolls in his home county for at least the last five years -- this, despite the fact that Dwek and his wife have donated tens of thousands of dollars to New Jersey politicians and PACs since 1998. 

New Jersey state law only disqualifies from voting someone who "is serving a sentence or is on parole or probation as the result of a conviction of any indictable offense under the laws of this or another state or of the United States."

There used to be explicit language in the law laying out crimes that disqualified convicts from voting, but those references were deleted in the early 1970s after a three-judge District Court panel ruled that they violated the Equal Protection Clause. 

So does Ferriero plan to vote? 

Jon Corzine is the irresponsible son who spends too much money.  Chris Christie is the brother in law who talks too much.  And Chris Daggett is someone a cousin just started dating.

Those were some of the more amusing responses Monmouth University Polling Institute Director Patrick Murray got when he asked a panel of undecided voters which of their relatives the three major gubernatorial candidates reminded them of.

The rest of the discussion, however, was not so light.  Even the talk about relatives turned to cynicism, when most of the participants said they would not want to have either Corzine or Christie as a relative (Daggett, however, was considered more of a nice guy and, according to one panelist, "approachable."). 

"I can't even imagine the other two in my family," said Bordentown resident David Marciniak. 

The discussion took place at a focus group facility in an Edison office building.  The ten panelists, all white and ranging in age from 30-something to 70-something, were drawn from participants in Monmouth telephone polls (Murray said that two panelists who did not show up were from minority groups).  There were six men and four women.  Four identified themselves as independents, three as Republicans, two as Democrats and one "other."

Most of the panelists did not like Corzine, but felt frustrated by the Christie campaign's lack of specifics. They were much warmer to Daggett, though some were hesitant to vote for him because they did not think he could win.

A new Quinnipiac University poll has Gov. Jon Corzine with a five point lead, 43%-38%, over Republican Christopher Christie - Corzine's first lead in nearly a year - with independent Christopher Daggett at 13%.

Two weeks ago, Quinnipiac put Christie ahead, 41%-40%, with 14% for Daggett.

"You could see it coming.   Gov. Jon Corzine's numbers crept steadily up and Christopher Christie's steadily shrank and now, for the first time, we have Corzine ahead," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "But don't be in a hurry to mark this election as over.   Christopher Daggett changed it from ‘ABC' - Anybody But Corzine - to a real three-way scrap.   But a lot of Daggett's voters say they might change their minds by Election Day.   Where will they go?"

Corzine continues to have upside-down job approvals: 39%-54%; the governor has an upside-down 29%-68% approval rating among independents.

Christie has increased his lead among independents and is now ahead 45%-30%, six points better than two weeks ago, with Daggett getting 20% of independents.  But Corzine has gained three points among Democrats and Christie has dropped four points among Republicans.  

Nearly four out of ten Daggett voters (38%) say they may change their mind, with 43% saying Christie is their second choice and 27% indicating a preference for Corzine.

"Can Daggett win?  More than two-thirds of New Jerseyans don't think so," Carroll added.

On Fox & Friends this morning, GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie said that he was "not driving the wrong way down a one way street" during a 2002 accident in Elizabeth, and says he "didn't hit someone, they hit me."  Democrats said today that Christie's comments are not consistent with the police report, although that is not entirely clear.

According to a police report released by Gov. Jon Corzine's campaign, Christie told a police officer he "was traveling west on Murray Street and was lost.  He reached Chilton Street, the light was red, so he inched forward attempting to make a right on red, but never saw the one-way traffic sign.  He then stopped upon observing oncoming traffic."

A motorcycle driven by Andre Mendonca "also braked.  The motorcycle fell on its side and slid into his vehicle."  Mendonca said that he was traveling on Chilton Street when Christie turned in front of him."

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie leads Gov. Jon Corzine 46%-43% -- a statistical dead heat -- with independent Christopher Daggett dropping to 7%, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll released today.

Last week, Rasmussen had Christie ahead 41%-39%, with Daggett at 11%. 

“The decline in support for Daggett comes in a week when several state newspapers endorsed Christie or Corzine, but none followed the Star-Ledger’s lead and came out in favor of the independent candidate,” Rasmussen said.  “Additionally, Christie began a new ad campaign linking Corzine and Daggett.”

Corzine’s favorables are still upside-down, 41%-57%, the same as last week.  Christie is also around the same, 49%-49%.  40% of likely voters have a “very unfavorable” view of Corzine; for Christie, it’s 27%.

Daggett, a former state Commissioner of Environmental Protection, has favorables of 42%-40%.  His unfavorables are up eight points since last week and thirteen points over the last two weeks.

Christie has an eight-point lead among voters who say they are certain to vote and his supporters are less likely to change their minds, the poll says.  Corzine does better among registered voters who are less likely to turnout – which may be why President Obama and former President Bill Clinton are returning to New Jersey for the second time in as many weeks.

President Barack Obama, who will campaign for Gov. Jon Corzine in Camden and Newark on Sunday, has a split 47%-45% approval rating in New Jersey, according to a new survey conducted by Public Policy Polling (PPP), a North Carolina-based firm that works primarily for Democrats.

Essex and Camden counties look to be the right place for Obama to tout Corzine's re-election.  The poll shows Corzine with 67% of the Black vote and 53% of the Latino vote; Democrats in New Jersey typically receive substantially higher numbers from these two critical components of their base vote.  And Corzine is only getting 66% of New Jerseyans who say they voted for Obama last year; 16% are going to Christopher Daggett, and 12% to Christopher Christie.  (Christie is getting 77% of John McCain's votes, with 9% to Daggett and 7% to Corzine.)

Republican Christopher Christie leads Gov. Jon Corzine 42%-38%, with 13% for independent Christopher Daggett, according to a new survey conducted by Public Policy Polling (PPP), a North Carolina-based firm that works primarily for Democrats.  Christie's lead is just fractionally above the margin of error.

Two weeks ago, PPP had the race in a statistical dead heat, with Christie ahead of Corzine 40%-39% and 13% for Daggett.   According to previous polls, Daggett was taking more votes from Christie than he was from Corzine; now Daggett's voters, by a 44%-32% margin, say that Corzine would be their second choice. 

Among independents, Christie leads Corzine 44%-25%, with 24% for Daggett.  Christie has 51%-40% favorables among independents, while Corzine is upside-down at 24%-70%.  Daggett's favorables with independents are 37%-32%.

"This race is going right down to the wire," said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. "The Daggett voters seem to be pretty volatile so if they go back to the Corzine camp he'll have a good shot of pulling it out. The campaign that does the better job of turning out its voters will win."

The poll has Daggett's negatives climbing: his favorables were at 30%-24% on October 13; now he's upside-down at 31%-36%.  His increased negatives come largely from Republicans.

Corzine continues to have upside-down favorables: 33%-60%.  Christie is nearly even: 45%-44%.