Toss Up: Corzine or Christie?

Governor Corzine may have an upside down 40%-51% approval rating; however, he is still in a dead heat with current United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Chris Christie, in a hypothetical matchup for the 2009 gubernatorial election. This disclosure is not new. In August, a poll showed that Christie would defeat Governor Corzine by only 1% in a theoretical race. Given the Governor’s low approval numbers, it should give him comfort that his strongest Republican challenger can only muster a tie despite all of the problems facing the State of New Jersey and the shockingly low approval ratings of the Democratic Legislature.

Chris Christie, a former Freeholder and fundraiser for President Bush’s initial campaign for the White House, has made battling corruption his top priority. During his tenure, a number of high-profile politicians have been indicted and convicted, including Newark Mayor Sharpe James. Opponents of Mr. Christie have repeatedly pointed out that the majority of his successes have been against Democratic politicians, and they have questioned whether Mr. Christie has behaved in a partisan fashion. Attacks on Christie escalated after he gave a $50M+ contract to the firm of former United States Attorney General John Ashcroft to be a federal monitor regarding a New Jersey company. Christie’s actions were a catalyst for Congressional hearings on the subject as well as calls for reform. One would think that based on all of this, Christie would be a well known commodity in New Jersey.

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Michael M. Shapiro, founder of ShapTalk.com, is an attorney who resides in New Providence, New Jersey. He currently serves as the Editor of The Alternative Press Contact Mike at mike@shaptalk.com