As voters go to the polls across the country today, the national political spotlight focuses on New Jersey, where a contentious gubernatorial race full of old-fashioned mudslinging will finally be decided following an especially difficult year in statewide politics.
Polls in Princeton open this morning at 6 a.m. and are scheduled to close at 8 p.m. Student dorms lie within three voting districts –– Borough District #1, Borough District #10 and Township District #12 (see page 2). In Princeton Borough, Council incumbents David Goldfarb and Mildred Trotman are competing against newcomer Josh Leinsdorf for two open seats. Also on the ballot is an initiative to create the position of acting governor for the state.
But the focus will be at the state level, where former governor Jim McGreevey resigned in August 2004 after admitting to involvement in several scandals. Acting Governor Richard Codey opted not to run for office, opening the Democratic Party to a run by U.S. Senator Jon Corzine.
Corzine's Republican opponent, Douglas Forrester, ran for Senate in 2002 and lost to Frank Lautenberg, a former Democratic Senator who returned to public life after incumbent Senator Bob Torricelli was implicated in a bribery and campaign finance scandal.
Corzine and Forrestor have limited governing experience, and neither candidate was born in or grew up in New Jersey. Forrester moved to the state 30 years ago to attend Princeton Theological Seminary after graduating from Harvard University. Corzine moved to New Jersey around the same time and took a job as a bond trader at Goldman Sachs, eventually working his way up to chairman and CEO of the investment bank.
In recent weeks the campaign has developed into a gritty match of attack ads and rumors of extramarital affairs carried on by both candidates.
Both men are millionaires who have poured their own money into their campaigns and have promised to bring an end to a century's worth of corruption in state politics that has only added to New Jersey's reputation as a place where the dishonest thrive.
Corzine leads in most recent polls by margins that range from two to 12 points.
The New Jersey race is one of only two gubernatorial races in the nation. The other, in Virginia, pits Democratic Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine against Republican Jerry Kilgore, the state's former attorney general.
The two state elections are seen as the first major elections where voters will be able to vote on President Bush's conduct thus far in his second term.
In New York, incumbent mayor Republican Michael R. Bloomberg faces Democrat Fernando Ferrer, former Bronx borough president. Bloomberg, father of Emma Bloomberg '01 and donor of the recently dedicated Bloomberg Hall dormitory, is expected to win a second term.
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