Holt, Sipprelle highlight contrasts as election approaches

In interviews with The Daily Princetonian this week, both Holt and Sipprelle said they aim to maintain their campaigns’ energy until the election on Nov. 2. The candidates also discussed their competing plans for reviving the economy — which they agreed is the biggest issue for voters — and why each thinks he is on the path to victory.

‘They understand what’s at stake’

At 1:04 p.m. on Oct 9, Holt posted on Twitter: “Out with engaged, smart, committed Princeton students walking the neighborhoods of the Township and Borough.”

Holt, the former assistant director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, enjoys a special relationship with the University. “I have a lot of friends and supporters at Princeton,” he said.

Among these supporters are members of College Democrats. Co-president Micah Joselow ’12 said that dozens of student volunteers have distributed posters, canvassed neighborhoods and worked phone banks in support of the sixth-term incumbent. Roughly 20 students campaigned for Holt last Saturday, while 40 to 50 members have been attending Monday evening meetings, which include phone-banking for Holt and other local Democrats.

“It was great to see the students out there, and I think they understand what’s at stake this year,” Holt said of canvassing last Saturday with University students.

Chloe Bordewich ’12, the other co-president of College Democrats, said students are focusing on getting “drop voters” — people who vote in presidential elections but not midterm elections two years later — to participate in this year’s election.

“You might think this is a year you can sit out, but you can’t,” Bordewich said. “We have to make sure that Democrats aren’t complacent about voting.”

Holt leads Sipprelle 51 percent to 46 percent, according to results of a poll of likely voters released by Monmouth University on Wednesday.

“This is a much tighter election than people realize,” Joselow said, citing growing discontent with the message of the governing party. “A lot of what’s happened has been blamed on [President Barack] Obama, blamed on Democrats,” he said, adding that “there’s a lot of skepticism about the Obama plan right now.”

Tigers for Israel and the Whig-Cliosophic Society jointly coordinated campus visits by each candidate. Sipprelle spoke Sept. 29 about U.S.-Israeli relations and took questions from students, and Holt is scheduled to speak on Oct. 21. College Republicans also sponsored Sipprelle's visit, while College Democrats sponsored Holt's visit.

Members have also helped out on the Sipprelle campaign, staffing a table in Palmer Square to distribute campaign materials and voter registration forms, the group’s vice president, Brian Lipshutz ’12, said in an e-mail. He added that the group plans to phone-bank at campaign headquarters next week.

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Lipshutz is also a columnist for The Daily Princetonian.

‘An important contrast’

While both candidates focus on the economy in campaign events and advertisements, they hold different views on what is needed from government.

Holt pointed to his 12-year record of investing in education and research. He also voted in favor of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the economic stimulus bill, financial regulation reform, the comprehensive energy bill and health insurance reform over the last few years.

Sipprelle, in contrast, said that government has interfered with the economic recovery, arguing that reducing taxation and spending is a better path toward growth.

Both parties said that this issue best demonstrates the choice at stake on Nov. 2.

“There’s lots we’re doing,” Holt said of Congress. “There’s lots we need to do, but so far we’ve been doing it without the minority. They’re worse than dead weight.”

Holt acknowledged that unemployment — which was 9.4 percent statewide in August — is a major problem, but he insisted that “a recovery from that deep, deep hole is slow.”

Sipprelle warned that Holt “believes the government should control every aspect of our economic lives.”

“I start from the premise that the fruits of your own toil belong to you,” Sipprelle said, adding that lower taxes for corporations would “put us on a level playing field with all these countries that are stealing our jobs” and that reforming the tax code would eliminate “goodies” for special interests.

Holt has suggested that Sipprelle’s vision oversimplifies the crisis and would deny “the American Dream” to those in less fortunate circumstances. “[Sipprelle’s] answer to everything is to restrict opportunity and give a tax cut,” he said.

Both candidates emphasized the ways in which their professional experiences have informed their political perspectives.

Holt said that his scientific background has motivated his interest in protecting the environment and promoting alternative energy — issues that Sipprelle “doesn’t really pay much attention to,” the congressman said.

Drawing on his academic background, Holt said he has prioritized affordable and accessible education. As the workforce contracts, “the need to create lasting jobs and get the economy going comes back to education [and] new ideas,” he said.

“As a teacher and scientist, I know the value of education,” Holt added.

But Sipprelle has framed Holt’s time at the plasma physics laboratory and in Congress as experiences that have left him out of touch with the “real world.”

In a press release in September, Sipprelle said Holt comes from “the sheltered confines of a college campus ivory tower” — in other words, Princeton.

Chris Russell, a spokesman for Sipprelle’s campaign, said that it is “fair” to call Holt a career politician after 12 years in office. “I don’t think Rush Holt has any intention of leaving Congress on his own,” he said.

Sipprelle, who has never served in office and has promised to serve no more than three terms if elected, argued that his personal business experience makes him a more credible advocate for small businesses and taxpayers. He has also proposed more carefully auditing the effectiveness of government programs.

“Scott can offer a more diverse view of the world than Rush Holt can,” Russell said. “That’s an important contrast for us.”

On the campaign trail

Beyond their policy disputes, the candidates have also demonstrated different campaign styles and strategies over the past months.

Holt’s campaign tactics have not changed from previous races, he said, noting that talking with constituents has long been a critical part of his strategy. “What I do day to day is the same as always,” he said.

Sipprelle also said he prioritizes speaking with voters. “Frankly, it’s what I expected,” he said of the campaign trail. “Exhilarating and grueling and exhausting at the same time.”

One of his “vices,” Sipprelle added, is coffee from the Wawa on University Place, just blocks from his campaign headquarters at 220 Alexander Road.

Sipprelle, who has spent $542,000 on his own campaign, began running television advertisements months before Holt kicked off his campaign in June, something that distinguished him from Holt’s previous challengers.

Holt said that “the actual campaign started earlier because my opponent began buying TV time last spring. He’s spending what looks like millions of dollars” out of his own pocket, which has “kind of ramped things up.”

As of June 30, however, Holt maintained the financial edge, with more than $600,000 spent and more than $1 million on hand, roughly twice the amount for Sipprelle in each category, according to campaign expenditure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Holt’s incumbency has benefited him, Sipprelle said, noting that building his own name recognition has been a challenge as expected. Nevertheless, Russell asserted that Holt is facing his toughest competition in a long time.

While Holt won easily in 2008, with 63 percent of the vote, Russell predicted that “they ain’t getting 60 percent of the vote this time. They ain’t gonna get 50.”

If anyone should be worried, it is Holt, Russell said. “For us there is no reason to be worried — we’re confident the environment is on our side.”

Citing voter frustration with politicians, Russell said that Sipprelle offers “a breath of fresh air.”

“Scott kind of marches to the beat of his own drummer,” Russell said of his boss. “I don’t think you can look at him and call him a straight-line Republican,” he said, noting that Sipprelle favors abortion rights.

An unexpected development in recent weeks has been what Holt termed “sign wars,” in which people have removed or replaced campaign signs and posters.

At one point while being interviewed, Holt suddenly interrupted himself to say, “I was driving by where there was a sign this morning and it’s gone now — we don’t do that in my campaign!” He called the behavior “juvenile.”

But Russell dismissed any notion that their camp had “started it,” saying, “Scott has been very clear with staff and volunteers that that’s not his style.”

“At some levels it is happening on both sides,” Russell added, saying that neither candidate is responsible.

Like last year, Election Day is during fall break. An independent, Kenneth Cody, will also appear on the ballot.

Correction: A previous version of this article mistated the sponsors of the visits by Rush Holt and Scott Sipprelle.