In the Right

I think national Democratic leaders have told Corzine that they're going to break the general election campaign into two parts -- the summer, and the fall.

The summer lasts until Labor Day.

During this period, Corzine will be encouraged to spend as much of his own fortune as he wants on nasty television ads trying to paint an unflattering portrait of Christie.

This, after all, is Corzine's only option -- his own numbers are in the tank, and have been so low for so long that he has very little chance of recuperation.

In such a situation, his only option is to take advantage of the one asset he has -- his financial advantage -- and use it to try to destroy Christie.

Because right around Labor Day, if I'm right, the Corzine campaign is going to commission a new poll.

It will be a large poll, surveying more than 1,000 likely voters, so that there will be no dispute over its findings.

And then the Democrats will sit down and read the poll together.

If Corzine appears by then to have driven Christie's negatives stratospheric, and to have made the campaign into a contested race, the Democrats will pat him on the back and say, "Good job, Jon, you may remain on the ballot."

If, on the other hand, Corzine's millions have not bought him a contested campaign with nine weeks to go, they will say to him what he said to Bob Torricelli seven years ago -- it's time to get out, so we can replace you on the ballot with someone who can win.

So if you're a Republican in New Jersey, and you don't like watching your guy get slimed on television when he can't fight back (because his spending, under New Jersey's public financing system, is capped), find something other to do this summer than watching television.

Because if this is what the ads look like in July, I can only imagine what the ads are going to look like in August.

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