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WINNER OF THE YEAR LOSER OF THE YEAR POLITICIAN OF THE YEAR
Christopher Christie
Christopher J. Christie was elected governor by a
49%-45% margin, becoming the first Republican to win a
statewide election in New Jersey since 1997 – each of the
other 49 states had done so at least once since then – and
the second Republican in state history to oust an
incumbent Democratic governor. As the U.S. Attorney for
eight years, Christie was the dominant Republican figure of
the decade; GOP leaders stood in awe of his fight against
political corruption. Democrats spend seven years fawning
all over him, and two years trying to beat him up. His
election in one of America’s most Democratic states, and
perhaps the nation’s most powerful governorship, changes
the face of state government at a time when New Jersey’s
economy faces potentially game changing challenges.
It’s easy to look at Gov. Jon Corzine’s tenure in office and
conclude that his ultimate conqueror didn’t win the election
so much as find himself in the right place at the right time
in an economic downturn against a perennial loser,
a governor whose policy agenda, from toll roads
monetization to dual office holding reform to stem cell
research, routinely sputtered.
“Anybody but Corzine” was an oft repeated explication for
poll numbers that - until the final weeks leading up to Nov.
3rd when the race tightened - repeatedly showed the
incumbent lagging behind GOP challenger.
But to simply pin the loser tag on Corzine would be to
discount Christie the competitor, who had to overcome
his own significant obstacles (sometimes manufactured,
sometimes self-inflicted) to win.
After losing re-election to the Morris County Board of
Freeholders, Christie reinvented himself three years later
as a fundraiser for George W. Bush’s presidential
campaign, and was the new president’s choice to become
the state’s federal prosecutor. He had to deal with being
the president’s guy in a state where Bush recorded a 15%
favorable rating by the end of his term.
Christie, however, complemented his record as a
corruption buster by focusing on his natural connections to
his home state - connections that Corzine lacked. As a
boyhood fan of Gov. Tom Kean, Christie knew the
importance of cross-the-aisle relationships in New Jersey,
how critical it is to project comfort in the heavily urban
power structures of this state - and ultimately the value of
building a coherent public identity. The fact that Christie
carried Ocean and Monmouth by more than Corzine won
Essex and Hudson was not just a GOTV issue; despite the
extreme partisanship of the campaign, some Democratic
insiders felt comfortable with the idea of a Christie
administration.
When he ran for governor this year, he did so not as a
Republican so much as an unerringly proud and tough New
Jerseyan. Now he gets to be governor, and while he no
longer gets to hear wiretaps of John Lynch and Jim
Treffinger phone calls, he’ll undoubtedly still have some
fun. Christie is now responsible for fixing a government he
says is broken, and he doesn’t seem to have a problem if
New Jerseyans hold him accountable.
Jon Corzine
Jon S. Corzine was the dominant political leader in
New Jersey during the first decade of the 21st
century, largely because he spent more than $130
million of his own money to fund three statewide
campaigns. Despite all that money, Corzine could
never get the people of New Jersey to really like
him, and the best he would do was 45% of the
vote. He always said to hold him accountable, so
it’s no surprise that Corzine joins Jim Florio as the
only incumbent governors in state history to lose
re-election bids. And Corzine must deal with the
shame of having essentially been fired from the
only two jobs he’s ever held: Wall Street tycoon
and New Jersey politician.
Corzine didn’t give up without a fight: his
campaign took off the gloves and threw everything
they could scrounge up at the Republican, Chris
Christie. New Jersey was a Democratic state,
Corzine thought, and voters would still hold the
GOP accountable for George W. Bush’s eight years
in the White House. While he knew he could not
win an election, he thought he could make Christie
lose.
But what was painfully obvious over the course of
the campaign trail was that few of Corzine’s allies
beyond a core of paid operatives and Democratic
State Chairman Joe Cryan were passionate about
a second term. Having landed a U.S. Senate seat
out of nowhere almost a decade ago then jumped
to the governorship at the near height of Bush
fatigue, all the while forking over millions of
dollars to the political machinery of the
Democratic Party, the multi-millionaire Wall Street
banker from Illinois possessed no built-in political
infrastructure. Democratic partisans weren’t his
people; they didn’t care about him and they
viewed him as politically tone deaf. Consequently,
he went into battle with no deep connections to
his troops. He couldn’t buy huge pluralities in
Democratic-rich Essex and Hudson counties and
the Republican-leaning shore voters couldn’t stand
him. He lost in Middlesex, Gloucester, Burlington
and Atlantic.
Not a naturally gifted speaker, no mixer of great
consequence, and shouldering twin burdens of
never having nurtured but a few personal
relationships within his party, Corzine headed out
on the trail in an economic downturn with a
looming $10 billion budget deficit against a very
aggressive opponent. He hadn’t done enough
politically to excite Black and Latino voters –
critical to a Democratic base vote – and his record
and personality caused him to lose blue collar
White voters.
While Christie capitalized on headlines about those
same political infrastructures that had buttressed
Corzine now crumbling amid corruption trials, it
was neither Christie, nor the economy that
ultimately finished Corzine. Never schooled in the
up from the bottom world of New Jersey and in a
time of crisis, Corzine lost because he lacked a
political foundation. New Jerseyans held him
accountable.
Steve Sweeney
An ironworker from Gloucester County, Stephen
M. Sweeney ran a campaign among insiders to win
the Senate Presidency. In doing so, he ousted
Richard Codey, a former governor and longtime
Senate Democratic leader who was, according to
independent polls, the most popular politician in
New Jersey.
Sweeney knew he wasn’t a household name, and
his image wasn’t enshrined on a bobble head doll.
But while Codey reveled in his role as a former
governor, even as a critic of an unpopular
governor from his own party, Sweeney as the
Majority Leader focused on the Democratic
Caucus. His plan was based on simple math: he
needed to convince eleven other Democratic
Senators that it was time for a change. He
needed to open doors to some very ambitious
Senators who had been shut out of the inner circle
during the Codey years. He wanted the Senate to
move on from a caucus where the most powerful
were Codey, Bernard Kenny, Wayne Bryant and
Sharpe James. And a built a coalition around
Democrats who have been waiting for years to put
the screws to Codey.
Essentially, Sweeney didn’t care who knew him
outside that network of deal-primed senators and
their extended contacts ― the very constituency
that packed Sweeney’s senate majority leader
parties in a show of increasing strength. Adeptly,
and extraordinarily, he packed the races for
Senate President and Assembly Speaker into one
deal. He steadily built up the requisite 12 votes to
oust Codey, and made the announcement finally
that he had 14.
It’s helpful to have smart and powerful friends like
George Norcross and Stephen Adubato, Sr., who
helped to build a statewide base that wound up
including Senators from Essex, Hudson, Bergen
and Middlesex. And bringing the Senate
Presidency to South Jersey was a long term plan
that bolstered South Jersey’s clout; Democratic
pickups of Senate seats in Gloucester (Madden
‘03), Cape May (Van Drew ‘07), and Atlantic
(Whelan ‘07) were the foundation of Codey’s
defeat.
After 36 years in the Legislature, Codey will be
relegated to the back benches of the Senate to
watch his nemesis control the power of the upper
house – a post that takes on increased clout and
visibility now that New Jersey will have a
Republican governor. Sweeney will control the
board list, Senate committees, and the
confirmation of Christopher Christie’s nominees.
In 2010, Sweeney will become the face of the New
Jersey Democratic Party. Ironically, it could be
him and not Codey who runs for governor in four
years. But Sweeney, who honed his political skills
in the rough-and-tumble world of the politics of
organized labor, knows as the man who
engineered Codey’s fall, he must zealously guard
his own power and his relationships with his
colleagues.