Corzine Plays a Weak Hand, Weakly - Corzine Plays the Bush Card - WSJ.com's Political Diary

Democratic Governor Jon Corzine of New Jersey is being dragged down by the weak economy. Up for re-election this November, a new Quinnipiac University poll finds him trailing former federal prosecutor Chris Christie by 53% to 41% among likely voters.
Mr. Corzine's basic problem is that only a third of New Jersey residents think he is doing a good job, and they blame him for high taxes -- cited by 45% as the state's biggest problem -- and a general decline in the state's quality of life. All this plays to Mr. Christie's strengths as a corruption-busting prosecutor who says he will offer "real choices rather than fake reform" if he is elected.
That said, Mr. Corzine will no doubt spend millions from his personal fortune to paint his opponent as an inexperienced extremist. In 1993, such tactics helped revive unpopular Governor James Florio enough that he lost his re-election bid to Republican Christie Whitman by only one percentage point.
But Mr. Corzine will have to attack carefully. One of his favorite tactics appears to be already backfiring. Linking Mr. Christie to George W. Bush is falling flat with voters. Quinnipiac found that only a tenth of voters say Mr. Corzine's attempts to tie his opponent to the Bush era are fair, with 77% of voters saying Mr. Corzine should stick to state issues. The poll also reveals the governor's weakness among his own base voters. Mr. Christie currently wins almost a fifth of votes of both Democrats and African-Americans, high numbers for a Republican in the Garden State. Mr. Corzine clearly hopes to remedy this shortfall with a rally with President Obama in Holmdel on Thursday. This fall's race will be not only a test of Mr. Corzine's wallet but of Mr. Obama's continued popularity amid a declining economy.
-- John Fund