2009: Obama confident, McDonnell ad
Posted: Thursday, June 25, 2009 9:14 AM by Mark Murray
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2009
NEW JERSEY: President Obama said he was “confident” that Governor Jon Corzine would be re-elected in the November gubernatorial election. "But the president cautioned that the governor's race will be driven by state issues and New Jersey politics -- and won't be an early referendum on his own administration." Corzine stumped for Obama during the presidential race, although he supported Hillary Clinton in the primary. Calling Corzine a “friend,” Obama said he would provide aid to the campaign, though he did not say how. Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs CEO, is funding his own campaign.
Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie will appear at 11:00 a.m. ET today before the Democratically-controlled House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law to testify about million-dollar no-bid monitoring contracts he awarded while U.S. attorney. The panel seeks to reform such “deferred prosecution agreements,” like the one Christie gave his former boss John Ashcroft, “worth as much as $52 million,” for monitoring a medical device maker Christie was investigating for Medicare fraud.
The hearing could be unprecedented. Political scientists who watch governors and Congress could not remember another time a gubernatorial candidate was called before a committee controlled by the opposing party. “It’s obviously political, but that doesn’t mean it’s illegitimate,” said Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia. “He’s running as the clean, untouched, unblemished alternative to Jon Corzine,” Sabato continued. “Well, then you touch him, you blemish him. It’s a perfectly legitimate subject, he’s a legitimate witness, but it’s political.”
VIRGINIA: Virginia Republican Bob McDonnell “became the first candidate for governor to go on television in the general election campaign.” McDonnell spent about $300,000 on the ad, “Resurgence,” which focuses on job creation and entrepreneurship.
