PRINCETON PACKET EDITORIAL
Remember what Gov. Jon Corzine said when he signed the bill that moved up New Jersey’s presidential primary from June to February?
”New Jersey is now a prime-time player in the nomination process,” the governor boldly declared, “and candidates will have to come here, speak to voters and hear and respond to our concerns about a variety of issues that impact our state.”
Well, Labor Day has now come and gone, the 2008 presidential campaign is in full swing all across the country and the candidates of both parties are treating New Jersey exactly the same way candidates have always treated New Jersey — a great state to raise money, but definitely not the kind of place you want to spend time speaking to voters and hearing and responding to their concerns about issues.
Democrats in particular had hoped the earlier primary would attract many, if not all, of the leading candidates to this week’s annual conference of their party’s state committee in Atlantic City. Instead, Gov. Corzine had to cajole his favored candidate, Hillary Clinton, into putting in a brief appearance. If he hadn’t succeeded in doing so, none of the contenders would have come to New Jersey at all.
Barack Obama turned down the invitation. So did John Edwards. And Bill Richardson. And the lesser candidates — Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich — didn’t even bother to respond.
It isn’t that New Jersey isn’t an important state in the 2008 presidential sweepstakes. It is. But it is for the same reason it’s always been — because the Garden State, the second wealthiest state in the country, is a fertile field for raising big bucks. It’s where candidates come to mine the deep pockets of folks who would like to see their wealth translated into influence in the next administration in Washington.
There has been no dearth of fundraisers in New Jersey this year. Virtually all the Democrats, as well as Republicans Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and Mitt Romney, have made frequent visits to shake hands and accept generous handouts. But none of them has made a meaningful campaign appearance to speak to voters, much less hear and respond to their concerns.
Why hasn’t the earlier primary attracted the candidates to New Jersey? Three reasons. First, New Jersey wasn’t the only state that moved up its primary to early February. So did 19 other states, including California and Florida, which are much bigger electoral prizes. Second, the race in New Jersey — in both parties’ primaries — isn’t competitive; statewide polls give New York Sen. Clinton and former New York Mayor Giuliani commanding leads. (Of course, that can change over the next few months, but for the moment, the front-runners don’t feel it’s necessary to campaign here, and their opponents figure it’s a waste of their time.) Third, New Jersey has no commercial television station. Candidates have always known, and still know, that the best way to get exposure in New Jersey is to make an appearance in New York or Philadelphia.
So changing the primary date from June to February has had no visible impact on the presidential candidates’ treatment of New Jersey. All of them continue to milk the Garden State as a cash cow, but pass up every opportunity to pay a visit to this productive pasture. Meanwhile, the state’s taxpayers will foot the bill for an additional statewide election from which they stand to gain nothing. In this day and age when politicians love to talk about win-win propositions, this one is looking more and more like a sure lose-lose.
