June 6, 2005 GOP gubernatorial candidates maneuver for last minute support
By Angela Delli Santi of AP
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
TRENTON, N.J. - The seven Republicans vying for the party nomination for governor spent the final hours leading up to Tuesday's primary wrangling for last-minute votes in a race that was seen as too close to call.
Mercer County businessman Douglas Forrester and former Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler were well ahead of the rest of the crowded GOP field, polls indicated.
But a final Quinnipiac University Poll released Monday found the difference between Forrester and Schundler to be within the poll's sampling margin of error, making the race a toss-up.
The winner will face U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine, who faces only token opposition in the Democratic primary.
Schundler spent the final morning of the campaign talking about education with a small group of parents who home-school their children, said his campaign spokesman, Bill Pascoe.
The candidate then was to greet shoppers at a Whiting supermarket, meet with another home-schooling group and attend three late-day rallies, including a final one on his home turf.
"On the night before the election, he always has his people gathered together in Jersey City for a party and work order," said Pascoe. After the volunteers leave the party, they'll spend the next 30 hours in a last-minute blitz of dropping off campaign literature, running yard signs, knocking on doors and monitoring voter turnout, Pascoe said.
Forrester's schedule for Monday was similarly grueling. He started his day at 6:25 a.m., greeting commuters at the ferry pier in Belford, then was slated to visit three diners in two hours before meeting with senior citizens in Tinton Falls. He ended the day shaking hands with commuters stepping off the train in Iselin during the evening rush.
Morris County Freeholder John Murphy, making his first statewide run, also focused his wrap-up campaign stops on mass-transit riders, greeting New York-New Jersey ferry commuters in Monmouth County Monday evening. On election morning, Murphy was to be at the Hoboken train station.
Because New Jersey is sandwiched between New York and Philadelphia - two of the priciest media markets in the country - all the candidates except the wealthiest one, Forrester, conserved their media budgets for a last-minute blitz.
As a result, likely voters have been barraged with direct mailers, telephone calls and radio and television ads in recent days.
"It was a strategic decision to go up late and never be off the air until the primary," said Pascoe of Schundler's campaign.
Steve Lonegan, the most conservative among the Republican hopefuls and one of the least well-financed, spent about $70,000 on ads targeted to conservative radio stations, said his campaign spokesman, Rick Shaftan.
Because the campaign has a restricted media budget, "we felt we could dominate there," said Shaftan.
He said the Lonegan camp has devoted little time or money to getting out the vote because the Bogota mayor's conservative base is committed, and "we have six other campaigns doing it for us."
While some were scrambling to muster 11th-hour support, Lonegan was relaxed.
"It's now up to the election gods," he said. "I've done all I could do."
Asked his plans for Tuesday, Lonegan said he would attend Catholic Mass at 7:30 a.m. before going for a workout and getting a haircut.
"I am making stops," he said, "but I don't get frenzied at this point. I have to be orderly and on target."
Though pollsters gave him little chance to win, Lonegan was far from conciliatory on Monday.
He planned to have phone banks humming at three locations in the state on Monday night, while he attended a fund-raiser for his major donors in Passaic.
"We're going to be raising money for the general," he said.
