Murray Sabrin

Only six independent candidates have hit the five percent mark in New Jersey statewide elections.  Five of the six were running for President; only Murray Sabrin, the Libertarian candidate for Governor in 1997, was running for state office.

Only two independents made it into the double-digits in New Jersey: Theodore Roosevelt finished second with 34% against Gov. Woodrow Wilson (41%) and President William Howard Taft (21%); and  Ross Perot, in his 1992 presidential campaign, won 16% in a three-way race with Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush.  When Perot ran again in 1996, he received 9%.  John Anderson (1980) and George Wallace (1968), clearly on opposite sides of the political spectrum when they made third party White House bids, each won 8%.

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The newspaper endorsement season is about to begin in the three-way gubernatorial race between Democrat Jon Corzine, Republican Christopher Christie, and Independent Christopher Daggett.  During Corzine's first run for public office, the 2000 campaign for United States Senator, Republican Bob Franks was endorsed by seventeen daily newspapers, while Corzine won the backing of six.  Five years later, when Corzine ran for Governor, eight newspapers supported Corzine, while nine went for Republican Douglas Forrester.

Of the seventeen dailies that endorsed in both 2000 and 2005, three have endorsed Corzine twice: the Jersey Journal, the Trenton Times, and the New York Daily News.  Seven newspapers have never endorsed Corzine: The Record, the Asbury Park Press, the Courier-Post, the Daily Record, the Courier-News, the New York Post, and the Trentonian.

There is some speculation, mostly from those not in the know, that Daggett could get a share of print media support.  Newspaper endorsements rarely go to third party candidates: the Courier-Post backed Libertarian Murray Sabrin for Governor in 1997, and The Record, in a sort of "what the heck" kind of editorial that followed the crazy candidate switcheroo, went with Green Party candidate Ted Glick for U.S. Senate in 2002.  In 2001, the Trenton Times endorsed James E. McGreevey for Governor, and then wrote a separate editorial apologizing for not endorsing William Schluter, a Mercer County Republican State Senator who was running as an independent.  The editorial suggested that they liked Schluter best, but knew he could not win.

Corzine's newspaper endorsement record:

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Former state Environmental Protection Commissioner Christopher Daggett, running for Governor as an independent, is at 12%, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.  That's a four-point increase from September 1 (9%) and a six point increase from August 11 (7%) for a candidate with 16% name ID statewide - 11% favorable -- who spent about $250,000 airing a single TV ad on New York TV.

Daggett is the only one of the ten independent gubernatorial candidates to be included in the poll.  He is also the only independent to qualify for matching funds, and the only independent to be included in the gubernatorial debates.  Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine has upside-down favorables, and voters are split on Republican Christopher Christie; the virtually unknown Daggett is the only alternative and some of his votes could wind up being cast for some of the other independent candidates.

In 1997, the last time a third party candidate received public financing and was included in the debates, a Quinnipiac poll had Libertarian Murray Sabrin at 8% in a three-way race with Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman (45%) and Democrat James E. McGreevey (37%). When the choices were expanded to all ten candidates, Sabrin dropped to 5% (which was his actual percentage on Election Day), with Whitman at 46% and McGreevey at 36%.

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Independent gubernatorial candidate Christopher Daggett will not be content if his candidacy only manages to bring attention to issues that major party candidates might have otherwise ignored.

"I'm in this to win the election, not to steer the debate," he said in a phone interview today.

Daggett, who started his campaign with a certain amount of legitimacy from being a federal and state environmental official in the 1980's, has made progress towards becoming a competitive candidate.  He raised the $340,000 that qualified him for matching funds from the state, giving him close to $1 million to start for the general election and a spot in two required debates.  He won the endorsement of the Sierra Club yesterday, and several months ago hired media consultant Bill Hillsman, who has experience creating ads for underdog candidates like Paul Wellstone and Jesse Ventura.

But Daggett's name ID is anemic.  In a Quinnipiac poll released August 11, 92% of voters did not know enough about him to form an opinion (it was 82% in a Monmouth University poll from a week earlier).  He polled at 7% in a three-way match-up with Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine and Republican Chris Christie.  The question most insiders have asked all along is not whether Daggett can win, but whether he hurts Jon Corzine or Chris Christie.

"I think this is something that could change very rapidly as people come back from vacation mode and start to focus on the fact that we have a gubernatorial election, and the fact that people have just had it with both parties.  They're discouraged, disappointed and in some cases just disgusted by what they see," he said.  "I think people will be looking for an alternative."

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Libby Sabrin, a Holocaust survivor and the mother of former gubernatorial and U.S. Senate candidate Murray Sabrin passed away Friday evening after a two-decade battle with cancer.

Graveside services will be held at 10:30 AM on Monday at Cedar Park Cemetery in Paramus.  Donations can be made in her memory to the Holocaust Center at Ramapo College.

“Mom will be remembered for her humor, compassion, wisdom and generosity.  In fact, if everyone managed their financial affairs like Mom did, there would be no private or public debt crisis in America today,” Sabrin said in an e-mail to PolitickerNJ.com.  “Mom was the ‘queen of coupons.’  You could not be Mom’s friend unless you ‘couponed’ after she taught you how to stretch the family budget.”

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Former state Commissioner of Environmental Protection Christopher Daggett became the first independent gubernatorial candidate to qualify for matching funds since Murray Sabrin ran as a Libertarian in 1997.  The Daggett campaign says the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission won't release any money until after the selection of a Lt. Governor candidate.  If the campaign has their facts straight, that is an interesting point since the Secretary of State has said they don't know what the penalty is for a candidate for governor who does not select a running mate.

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Former Republican gubernatorial candidate Steven Lonegan reaffirmed his support for GOP nominee Christopher Christie in an email to supporters today, but under the condition that Christie sticks to the conservative principles he professed in the primary.

"Our nominee for Governor has openly embraced conservatism and if he continues on that path, all of us should work hard for his election," wrote Lonegan.  "As the Republican nominee Chris Christie will also have to maintain his positions on the issues that convinced many Republicans he was a conservative, and convince many in the GOP establishment to go with him."

Christie beat Lonegan by 13 points in last week's primary - 55% to 42%.  Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) received 3% of the vote.

"You have moved your party to the right," Lonegan wrote to his supporters.

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Economist Peter Schiff of Connecticut is scheduled to endorse GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan at a press conference this afternoon at the Statehouse.

“He likes Steve’s flax tax plan,” said Lonegan campaign strategist Rick Shaftan.

Schiff served as an economic advisor to U.S. Rep. Ron Paul’s (R-Texas) presidential campaign last year, and endorsed Prof. Murray Sabrin for U.S. Senate in the 2008 Republican Primary.

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Texas Rep. and former presidential candidate Ron Paul has endorsed Steve Lonegan for governor.  

“I was very impressed by Steve Lonegan’s record of budget restraint as Mayor of Bogota, NJ. Steve has been a vocal critic of runaway spending and taxpayer funded bailouts, and he understands that we must reject the nanny state and return government to its proper, restrained role,” wrote Paul in an email to New Jersey supporters.  “Sending Steve Lonegan to Trenton would be a tremendous victory for the people of New Jersey.”

The endorsement comes just a few days after Murray Sabrin, an ally of Paul’s who chaired his presidential campaign in New Jersey, endorsed Lonegan rival Chris Christie.  Sabrin, a former Libertarian candidate for Governor, won 14% in his bid for the GOP U.S. Senate nod last year.

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Murray Sabrin, a conservative college professor who ran Ron Paul's presidential campaign in New Jersey before entering the GOP primary for U.S. Senate last year, has endorsed former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie for the Republican nomination for Governor.

In an email to his political friends and allies sent today, Sabrin, who teaches finance at Ramapo College, said he had a conversation with Christie this morning and concluded that “Chris’s vision for New Jersey is best suited for the current economic crisis” because he “understands the need to lower the tax burden and decrease spending.”

He also criticized the flat tax plan of Christie rival Steve Lonegan, who is running as the more conservative alternative, for raising the tax rate on a significant portion of New Jerseyans. 

“Steve Lonegan’s ill conceived tax plan is nothing more than a political ploy that will penalize working families, particularly those with stay-at-home moms who are the backbone of the conservative movement in New Jersey,” wrote Sabrin. Read More >