Memo To Doug Forrester
By sandbox Posted in User Blogs — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Doug,
Having won the Republican primary last June, you are now the nominee for Governor of New Jersey running against Democrat Senator John Corzine. If I understand correctly how you stand on the issues, you are a social moderate and a fiscal conservative. By social moderate, I mean that you are pro-choice (with some restrictions) on abortion, pro-reasonable gun control, and opposed to the proposed federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage (although you are against gay marriage but OK with civil unions.) So far, so good, considering you are running in liberal New Jersey.
You are now better known statewide than your last run for US Senate in 2002 and your issues--lower taxes, less government, stop state corruption--are decent enough and will probably bring you to trail Corzine in the polls by single digits in the fall. But, as you know, New Jersey is a very Democratic State, so you will need more than the usual moderate Republican issues to win.
What could another issue be? My suggestion Homeland Security
Since both Senator Corzine and you are obviously for Homeland Security, how can you make this issue work for your campaign, for the Republican Party and, not incidentally, help out the entire country at the same time? I think the idea is to make common-sense, majority opinion, type statements about homeland security to which Senator Corzine will either not respond, or will disagree. This will create the perception (and reality, I hope) that you are more serious than John Corzine about homeland security. Remember, after New York, New Jersey suffered the most deaths in the 911 attacks on the World Trade Center, so I think the electorate is open to this issue if presented correctly.
The way to do this is to follow the lead of that great Conservative Republican: Tony Blair. If you read Blair's speech and press conference of August 5 after the London subway attacks, Blair was breaking new ground, talking more straight forward about terrorism than GW Bush.
Here, listen to the entire August 5 Press Conference: (Click "Watch the Briefing"):
Blair vows hard line on fanatics
I would actually refer to Blair by name and say things like "I agree with Tony Blair that Radical Islamic Clerics who preach hate and overthrow of the government should be sent out of the country." There is so much to draw on in the Press Conference, all of it reasonable and presented in ready-to-go English. I am sure your speechwriters and ad-makers can find relevant passages. You might also say that you think the U.S. Justice Dept was correct to prosecute Lynne Stewart, the radical lawyer who has been convicted of assisting Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman to pass messages from his prison cell to his allies overseas. Rahman was the mastermind of the 1st World Trade Center bombing in 1993. Lynne Stewart will be sentenced in NYC in September, so this will be big news coming up.
As you make statements and campaign ads on Homeland Security, Senator Corzine will have to respond. If he agrees with what you say (the smart move), your new Homeland Security issue will be neutralized. However, if he disagrees (unlikely, but possible) or says nothing (likely) or agrees (but takes several weeks to do it) about your Homeland Security comments, you will own the issue. You see, it is very difficult (even for liberals in New Jersey) to disagree with anything Tony Blair said in his press conference, and what Blair said is what a lot of people are thinking already but have not, so far, been able to say. Since Tony Blair was able to suspend politically correct speech on terrorism (for one day, at least), you can do it for the rest of your campaign.
Further note: Senator Corzine's approach to Homeland Security will be like Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton`s--to spend more money on first responders, security guards, etc. Just agree with him on that point and then go on to your own additional program outlined above.
Good luck in the campaign and remember to invite me to your inauguration.
I'd love for him to focus on that 20% of NJ's budget is money the state doesn't have.
We have a 25 Billion dollar budget.
with a 5 Billion dollar defecit. That's a sin.
A slogan of "With Corzine you get more of the same, more taxes, more defecits, more corruption"
"Forrester for Change"
Unforunatly Forrester's property tax reform plan is a joke, and he's making that his front and center issue. His other issue is corruption, which should resonate with voters, because we all know Trenton is dirty. It's just a matter of whether or not the voters will believe Corzine is in its mud. But in order to understand the corruption, Forrester must press the issue of the defecit and the budget. However I don't think he will.