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TagsBY TOM HESTER SR.
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Gov. Jon Corzine's excellent three-day campaign adventure continued Tuesday night as former president Bill Clinton called for his re-election before a cheering crowd of 2,000 mainly students and Democratic Party and union activists at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.
Standing before a large American flag and with Corzine at his side, Clinton cited what he sees as the governor's accomplishments during nearly four years in office and said he cannot understand why the election is close.
"Why in the world is this a close governor's race?'' Clinton said.
In a 14-minute address, the former president said that under Corzine, New Jersey was the first state to have an economic recovery plan, one he said President Obama used to help create a national recovery plan. Clinton said New Jersey has had fewer home mortgage defaults than the national average, that the cost of health insurance dropped an average of 11 percent, and that 100,000 more children have gained health coverage.Clinton said New Jersey was the second state to have paid family leave and the second state to have a green energy plan. He said New Jersey ranks first in the nation in high school graduations, and that Corzine has worked to put more children in pre-school and closed the education gap between urban and suburban public school students.
He said Corzine was the first New Jersey governor in 60 years to create a budget that is less than when he took office, that the governor obtained $17 billion in federal economic stimulus aid for the state, and reduced both violent crime and the murder rate.
Clinton linked Republican gubernatorial challenger Chris Christie to what he sees as the failed policies of the Bush administration and warned Christie would continue to follow the Bush agenda.
Clinton said the success of the Obama administration depends, in part, on the success of Democratic governors.
"In 13 days and six hours, you will all have a chance to go to the polls, and this election matters,'' Clinton told the crowd. "Think back to year 2000 and that very close election. Instead of getting 23 million jobs in an eight year time cycle for a president, we lost 7.2 million jobs. A different president would not have had two wars of choice and would have had secured America. Instead of a $24 trillion debt, we would have had a balanced budget. We would have had climate change on the agenda. It would have been different if we had a Clinton-Gore agenda continued into the 21st century.''
Corzine told the crowd, "I'm one of the luckiest guys in the world, Bill Clinton is a friend of mine. Nobody has done more for America to put us on right track than Bill Clinton."
The governor cited what he sees as Clinton's accomplishments and said, "Our election in New Jersey is about the same kind of issues. We need to have the kind of economic policies Bill Clinton ran and that will make a difference for our country. We need health care for everyone in the country. That should be a right, not a privilege. Women have a right to mammograms and I will stand up for the working men and women every day.''
Corzine receive his biggest cheer when he declared, "I think a woman ought to have right to make her own choices."
The rally was the second of two on Tuesday that featured Clinton. In late afternoon, he called for a second term for Corzine before hundreds of supporters who crowded a rally at Collingswood Ballroom in Collingswood.
Clinton's appearances precede that of President Obama who will join Corzine for a rally late Wednesday afternoon at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Hackensack. That rally will mark the second time Obama has campaigned for Corzine's re-election. The president drew an overflow crowd to the PNC Arts Center in Holmdel in July.
With Corzine, according to polls, running neck and neck with Republican challenger Chris Christie with two weeks remaining until the Nov. 3 election, the national Democratic Party has pulled out all the stops in an attempt to boost him to victory and keep the Republican Party on its heels.
Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy, will campaign with Corzine and former governor Brendan Byrne Wednesday night at an Irish-American political dinner at The Barclay in Belmar.
Vice President Biden appeared at a rally for Corzine Monday at Middlesex County College.
In both New Brunswick and Collingswood, Clinton and Corzine waded into the crowd to shake hands and pose for photos with people in the crowd.
Clinton told the crowd in Collingswood that it is understandable that voters are angry about the state of the economy, but added Corzine has solutions. He said if voters pause to think about the issues facing New Jersey, Corzine will win a second term.
In lighter moments in New Brunswick, state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), Corzine's lieutenant governor running mate, described Clinton as "the Comeback Kid from Arkansas."
Clinton later responded, "Loretta Weinberg is about to be elected the first lieutenant governor New Jersey ever had. You could not do better that starting with an incorruptible, highly progressive Jewish grandmother.''