TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Gov. Jon Corzine has staged two comebacks in a decade: He rebounded to win a U.S. Senate seat after suffering a humiliating public ouster as CEO of a Wall Street giant in 1999, and recovered fully after breaking 15 bones and spending eight days on a ventilator after a near-fatal crash on the Garden State Parkway in 2007.
Now, with days to go until the Nov. 3 election, Corzine, a 62-year-old former Marine, needs to pull off another turnaround if he is to be returned to office by a cynical, angry New Jersey electorate amid a deep recession and after a bruising campaign against a confident former federal prosecutor.
The incumbent Democrat needs a big turnout by minorities, women and urbanites — reliable Democratic constituencies in this Democratic-leaning state — and for independent Chris Daggett to syphon off enough of the disgruntled ABC vote — "Anybody But Corzine" — or hope enough voters stay home.
With the race against GOP rival Chris Christie remaining close — Corzine's up slightly, according to the most recent polls — the governor is digging more deeply into his own fortune to help counter a job approval rating of 54 percent. He's spent more than $22 million on the race and given hundreds of thousands more in donations to black churches and Democratic organizations run by county political bosses. His campaign also has been embraced by the Democratic Party's biggest stars, getting stump appearances by President Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden and Caroline Kennedy, among others.
"What we need are leaders that are committed to moving this country forward, moving this state forward," Obama said at an Oct. 21 Corzine rally in Hackensack. "That's the kind of leader Jon Corzine is. That's why he deserves another four years."
Corzine eased to victory in 2005 after deciding he'd had enough of being a junior senator in a minority party and spending $40 million of his own money to relocate to Trenton.
The smooth seas didn't last long for the new governor.
Corzine shut down state government his first year in office after clashing with the Legislature over budget details. Labor talks turned ugly because they involved a union leader the governor used to date. Then came the accident, in which Corzine was ticketed for not wearing a seat belt and spent months on the mend. The following year saw a politically disastrous plan to hike highway tolls to fund transportation projects and pay down state debt. Then, the recession hit and state revenues fell, tying his hands on the budget.
He accomplished some things, too. He recalculated the formula the state uses to distribute school aid, an achievement that eluded previous governors for 30 years; secured health insurance for 90,000 more children; kept property tax rebates for low- and fixed-income homeowners; got the death penalty abolished; signed a civil unions law; and offered a tax credit to businesses that create jobs.
Former President Clinton said Corzine would win handily if residents weren't so worried about their financial distress.
Corzine's re-election bid was nearly lost in July, when 44 mayors, rabbis and public officials were arrested in a wide-reaching corruption bust by the U.S. Attorney's office, where Christie made a name for himself as a corruption-busting prosecutor during the Bush administration.
The bust ensnared newly minted Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano, three weeks after Corzine had been at his swearing-in, and forced an abrupt resignation from Corzine Cabinet member Joe Doria, who hasn't been charged. Those embarrassments caused politics-watchers to wonder openly whether Corzine could survive — or should even try.
He remained down by double-digits in polls taken through the summer, but his campaign has steadily clawed its way back to make this a close three-way race. Labor is working hard for Corzine, and the governor has picked up endorsements from several newspapers, including The New York Times.
The Times acknowledged his flaws as a politician, like his difficulty articulating his thoughts and his reluctance to take a victory lap for his accomplishments, something that was frowned upon at Goldman Sachs where he made his fortune.
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