The Newark Star-Ledger, the largest newspaper in New Jersey has endorsed the Chris Daggett, an Independent running for Governor in New Jersey:
The Star-Ledger today endorses independent candidate Chris Daggett and recommends his election as the next governor of New Jersey.
The newspaper’s decision is less a rejection of Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican Chris Christie than a repudiation of the parties they represent, both of which have forfeited any claim to the trust and confidence of the people of New Jersey. They share responsibility for the state’s current plight.
Only by breaking the hold of the Democratic and Republican mandarins on the governor’s office and putting a rein on their power will the state have any hope for the kind of change needed to halt its downward economic, political and ethical spiral.
New Jersey needs radical change in Trenton. Neither of the major parties is likely to provide it. Daggett’s election would send shock waves through New Jersey’s ossified political system and, we believe, provide a start in a new direction.
It would signal the entrenched leadership of both parties — and the interest groups they regularly represent — that an ill-served and angry electorate demands something better.
The lamentable fact is that the two parties are, themselves, little more than narrow special interests. Their competition for short-term political and/or monetary gain has jeopardized the state’s long-term economic health and left it with a tarnished national reputation.
Where the major parties have differed, their differences have been inconsequential. Where they’ve been the same, their similarities have been destructive.
They have contributed equally to gross overspending in Trenton by consistently pandering to the pay, pension and retirement policies demanded by powerful public employee unions. Democrats have financed the spree with tax hikes, Republicans with borrowed money, and both with pension-fund raids.
How do we now signal them that this has got to stop if not by rejecting their anointed candidates? How if not by electing Chris Daggett?
So far, Daggett has been pretty much an also-ran in the race between Chris Christie and Jon Corzine, typically polling somewhere between 8-14 percent in recent polls, which has turned him into something of a spoiler in a race that it very, very tight right now.
Will this endorsement turn this into a true three person race ?
No, it won’t have much of an impact at all. Like most editorial pages (with a few exceptions like the NYT), the Star-Ledger’s endorsement moves few votes — probably all the fewer when conferred on a third candidate.
It will give Daggett an argument against the “don’t waste your vote” line the usually takes hold as an election draws near. That could mean fewer annoyed Dems returning reluctatly to Corzine (the paper’s circulation is also mostly in staunch Dem areas). But I’d still wager that Daggett won’t break 5-6 percent. In a close race, that’s still the margin — but the S-L won’t have affected it much.
The star ledger’s endorsement of Chris Daggett is great news. I wish the republicans would stop the Bush/Rove Fear mongering. There is obviously a consensus that a vote for Daggett is not a vote for Corzine.
Daggett is a viable candidate and there are many of this who are voting for him because we know he can win and is the only candidate who can change this state. The Star Ledger’s endorsement echoes and re-affirms that opinion.
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