New Jersey Democrat Surges Into the Lead on a Flood of Cash

Two years ago, millionaire Al Checchi doled out a record $40 million in his bid for the California governorship, only to lose the Democratic primary to Gray Davis. Now Checchi’s spending mark is being challenged--and may be broken--by another wealthy businessman who is testing whether big bucks can overcome political inexperience.

Jon S. Corzine, a former Wall Street investment banker worth more than $300 million, already has pumped $30 million--most of it his own money--into his race for the Democratic Senate nomination in New Jersey. And political analysts expect that figure to near or surpass $40 million by the state’s Tuesday primary.

Chris Cillizza, who helps track campaigns for Washington-based political analyst Charlie Cook, noted that Corzine’s spending already exceeds the payrolls of eight major league baseball teams--the Minnesota Twins, Florida Marlins, Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, Milwaukee Brewers and Montreal Expos.

A Barrage of TV Ads

Corzine, who like Checchi had never before run for office, “clearly has become this year’s poster boy for the millionaire vanity campaign,” said Scott McLean, a political scientist at Quinnipiac College in Connecticut.

Unlike Checchi, however, Corzine’s investment in his political career may pay off, at least for now. The flood of campaign cash has propelled him from a virtual unknown when he entered the race last fall to the leader in the polls against former Gov. Jim Florio, long a household name in New Jersey politics.

In late March--around the time Corzine began a barrage of television advertisements throughout New Jersey extolling his virtues and attacking Florio--a survey by Quinnipiac College found him trailing the ex-governor by 24 percentage points among likely Democratic voters. A new Quinnipiac poll in late May put Corzine on top by 26 points, a staggering turnaround.

The Campaign Media Analysis Group, a Virginia-based firm that tracks political advertising, estimates Corzine has spent at least $13.5 million on his ads, running 4,781 spots--in daytime as well as evening.

“For a primary race in New Jersey, this is way off the charts,” said Evan Tracey, an analyst for the group. “This is the kind of thing that you can only do if you’re self-financed.”

Corzine’s spending has complicated matters even for candidates in other states. On the weekend before the April primary in neighboring Pennsylvania, the Corzine camp bought out virtually every available time spot in Philadelphia’s television market, which spills over into central New Jersey. As a result, Democrats running in a highly competitive Senate primary in Pennsylvania found their ads all but crowded out of the Philadelphia area.

Corzine has continued to advertise in that market, and the repercussions have continued to surprise. Campaign workers for the Democrat who won the Pennsylvania primary, Rep. Ron Klink, have reported encountering voters who say they plan to vote for Corzine, not realizing he’s running in a different state.

Florio, with a primary campaign budget of about $2.3 million, simply lacked the cash to respond with his own ads until recently. He also has been burdened by memories of a $2.8-billion tax increase he fought for in 1990 during his term as governor, legislation that sparked a voter backlash and led to his defeat by Republican Christine Todd Whitman three years later.

Even if Corzine wins the primary, it is far from certain he will become New Jersey’s next senator. Although the three Republicans vying for their party’s Senate nomination--Rep. Bob Franks, state Sen. William L. Gormley and Essex County official James Treffinger--lack statewide name recognition, their primary fight has been much less divisive. And despite Corzine’s background in big business, his political platform has stressed liberal positions that the GOP nominee is sure to criticize--he favors national health insurance and strict gun control, for instance.

Larry Makinson, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, which monitors campaign spending, said, “Most often, people who put a lot of their own money into races end up losing. What’s important in these situations is not how much money you have to spend, but how broadly based your contributions are.”

Along with Checchi, another example of Makinson’s point is Republican Michael Huffington, who failed to unseat Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in 1994 despite a largely self-financed campaign that cost roughly $30 million.

“If Corzine loses in the fall . . . the only thing he’ll be able to show for it is that people in New Jersey have learned to pronounce his name with a long vowel [COR-zyne, rather than COR-zeen],” Makinson says. “You can’t make people love you.”

But having money--and plenty of it--has certainly helped Corzine so far:

* Even before the race got into full swing, he began splurging on dozens of luxuries, including a large staff of campaign workers at salaries more often associated with large corporations than with grass-roots political organizations.

According to finance reports, each of Corzine’s top campaign managers earns $20,000 a month--well above the usual rate for senatorial campaigns. And the reports show he has doled out thousands of dollars on chauffeurs, helicopters and other services.

* Eager to win backers among the state’s major politicians and interest groups, Corzine has aggressively funneled thousands of dollars into the coffers of political action committees and other candidates. Many of these candidates have returned the favor by supporting him.

Corzine Branded an Outsider

Not surprisingly, Florio, 62, has sought to depict Corzine, 53, as an outsider who has little to offer New Jersey voters besides the money he is spending on his campaign.

“New Jersey is not for sale,” Florio declares in one of the TV spots his campaign began running as the primary comes to a close. Another Florio tag line is only slightly more subtle: “Jim Florio has experience that money just can’t buy.”

And one of Corzine’s expenditures has proved a last-minute embarrassment for the candidate. Last Tuesday, Corzine was forced to admit that his campaign had paid at least $200,000 to a lawyer who hired private detectives to investigate Florio and members of his campaign staff. Corzine insisted that he called a halt to the inquiry as soon as he discovered it.

But political analysts say there’s little evidence that Corzine’s spending spree has begun to backfire seriously enough to threaten his lead in the polls. Surveys show most Democratic voters dismiss Corzine’s wealth as unimportant.

Janice Ballou, an analyst at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said the state’s voters are used to seeing rich persons run for office using their own money.

Whitman, the current governor, comes from a wealthy background. And Democrat Frank Lautenberg, whose decision to retire set up the contest between Corzine and Florio, was a millionaire businessman who first won his seat in 1982 with a largely self-financed campaign.

“It may look obscene to outsiders, but you have to spend a lot here because achieving name recognition is so hard,” Ballou said.

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Senate Battle in New Jersey

Tuesday’s Democratic primary for New Jersey’s open Senate seat is considered a tossup. A look at the two candidates:

*

New Jersey voters*

Dems: 25% *

GOP: 19%

Other: 56%

*

JIM FLORIO

Residence: Metuchen, N.J.

Age: 62

Education: Social studies degree from Trenton State Teachers College. Attended graduate school at Columbia University. Law degree from Rutgers University.

Career highlights: New Jersey governor, congressman, member of New Jersey General Assembly, attorney, professor at Rutgers. Served in U.S. Navy.

Family: Married 12 years to former Lucinda Coleman. Three children.

*

JON S. CORZINE

Residence: Summit, N.J.

Age: 53

Education: Political science degree from University of Illinois. MBA from University of Chicago Business School.

Career highlights: CEO of Goldman Sachs, trustee of Progressive Policy Institute. Served in U.S. Marine Corps.

Family: Married 30 years to former Joanne Dougherty. Three children.

*

Sources: Candidates’ campaigns

*1998 data, from Almanac of American Politics