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Winning Ugly in New Jersey
Are We Seeing the Dirtiest Primary Campaigns Ever?
by Morris Friendly

Tuesday, June 6, 2000 -- It's Primary Day in New Jersey -- and thank the Lord it's here.

It means an end to the ugliest pile of negative political TV spots I've seen.

Ever.

For those of you who do not live in the Greater New York or Philadelphia area, all I can say is count your blessings. You missed a parade of Senate primary campaign commercials that morphed into the ugliest slimefest I have seen. They made the Schumer-D'Amato Senate dust-up of a year and a half ago look like the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

And some wonder why people ruefully refer to New Jersey as "The Garbage State."

The Democratic race turned particularly ugly. About three weeks ago, Democrat millionaire candidate Jon Corzine (who had run a positive TV campaign up to that point) ran a negative "failed big-taxer former Governor Jim Florio" ad. Florio fired back, attacking Corzine for working at Goldman Sachs at a time when the firm got cited for raiding their pension fund -- and later assailing Corzine for hiring private dicks to dig dirt on Florio and his team. Corzine dumped on Florio, blaming him for over a quarter million lost jobs and 200,000 New Jerseyites unable to afford health insurance. Corzine is thought to have spent as much as $37 million dollars on his campaign already -- even more than California Republican Michael Huffington spent on his failed Senate run.

On the GOP side, state Senator Bill Gormley attacked Rep. Bob Franks as a threat to Social Security. And everyone, including Corzine, attacked Florio as a failed tax-mad Governor who was also out to dismantle Social Security. GOP dark horses Murray Sabrin and Jim Treffinger didn't get in on the swill-o-rama -- probably because they couldn't afford TV ads in the New York area.

At least there was a little comic relief in the House primaries.

In the traditionally Republican 12th District, Democrat Rush Holt looks vulnerable, even though he easily beat Mike Pappas back in 1998. Holt won by publicizing Pappas's embarrassing House floor rendition of the song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Kenneth Starr" during President Bill Clinton's impeachment hearings. Holt successfully made Pappas look like a fool -- and beat him like an ailing mutt. Pappas, who must be a sucker for making a fool of himself, is actually running for the GOP nod again, this time against New Jersey Republican honcho Dick Zimmer. Zimmer used Pappas's little Starr ditty against him the same way Holt did. But the invective has been kicked up a notch in recent days, with a radio ad from an advocacy group connecting Pappas to "the Pillar of Fire, founded by a zealous Ku Klux Klan supporter." Zimmer has denied that he has any connection to the ad.

Meanwhile, over in the state's 5th Congressional District, longtime Republican Rep. Marge Roukema once again is being challenged by a hard-right conservative, this time E. Scott Garrett, who is making believe that Roukema's a (horrors!) liberal. Garrett has not yet figured out that this tactic has failed for two decades.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that all of this negative campaigning is guaranteed to depress voter turnout. Combine the fresh-from-the-septic-tank TV and radio spots with the miserable weather today and we may see the worst percentage voter turnout in a presidential year in decades. Some pundits and pollsters are calling the races too close to call, but there is a consensus that Corzine and Franks are favored if the turnout is low.

If the primary is any indication, expect a nasty fight for the Senate seat being vacated by Frank Lautenberg. It'll make the Clinton-Lazio race in New York look perfectly civilized -- even if Robert Ray pulls some stunt to try to torpedo Hillary.