Congress Watch: Recess? Not in New Jersey
Congress is not in Washington this month, but it's hard to call it a recess since politics retreats for nothing. The Supreme Court confirmation battle looms with a September 6 start date, and on his way out the door last week Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist made a speech on embryonic stem-cell research that could be read as a presidential campaign announcement. And the bottom line in this town is that everyone is always thinking about the next election.
So recess, schmecess!
New Jersey Democrat Jon Corzine is completely forthcoming when asked about his August plans: "Hi, my name in Jon Corzine. May I kiss your baby?" While he is one of nine members of Congress who have announced plans to run for governor, Corzine alone will walk the point this fall for those Capitol Hill lawmakers who want to take the political temperature back home in advance of the 2006 midterms. New Jersey is one of only two states holding gubernatorial contests in November, so many of the political and policy arguments that have dominated the Washington since the 2004 elections are back in play. Social Security, Corzine says, is his big punch line.
Corzine faced nominal opposition in a June primary and emerged to face businessman and 2002 Senate candidate Doug Forrester in the general election. Three years ago, Forrester was in a tight contest with incumbent Sen. Bob Torricelli, who dropped out of the race just weeks before the election when it looked like he might lose. But Forrester lost to once-and-future Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who replaced Torricelli on the Democratic ticket.
The gubernatorial campaign so far has been mostly about property taxes and the Bush administration. Forrester has been attacked for a fundraiser attended by Vice President Cheney, and Corzine, who led Forrester by 13 points in a July public opinion poll, has had to fight off claims that he has no plan to reduce taxes. New Jerseyans paid an average of more than $5,500 in property taxes last year, and they don't like it one bit. Taxes are fruitful Republican ground, but New Jersey has not been kind to the GOP lately, trending increasingly Democratic in statewide and presidential elections.
And so a big part of the Corzine strategy is to tie Forrester to Bush.
"People are getting very frustrated with this administration and the Republicans in Congress," he says. Last week, former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, one of the harshest critics of the Bush administration, was in New Jersey campaigning for Corzine, attacking Forrester mostly for his links to the White House.
Forrester's campaign director, Sherry Sylvester, says that Corzine's attempt to play the Bush card is a strategic necessity for a troubled New Jersey Democratic Party facing constant allegations of corruption. (The last elected governor, James McGreevey, a Corzine ally, resigned last year after admitting that he had a extramarital affair with a man he hired to be the state's homeland security boss.)
"The only option [Corzine] has is to shift the ground to the Washington, polarized, red-blue divide," Sylvester says. Recess indeed.
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