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 Candidates work some friendly crowds
Originally appeared in Star Ledger on 11/02/01
Former Gov. Tom Kean joined Bret Schundler yesterday on a campaign stroll through Westfield, the town where the GOP candidate was raised, while Democrat Jim McGreevey continued his relentless effort to portray his rival as a gun lover and extremist.
Kean, the personification of New Jersey's brand of moderate Republicanism, urged the pedestrians and shop owners he encountered to vote for his fellow Republican, whose conservative views on abortion, guns and other issues are now under daily attack in Democratic TV ads.
Schundler, the former Jersey City mayor, has been trailing in the polls, but Kean said voters should disregard those prognostications, and he offered his own electoral experience as a case in point.
Running for governor in 1981 against Jim Florio, Kean trailed consistently in the polls, only to squeak by on Election Day by the narrowest victory margin in history -- 1,797, less than a tenth of one percent of the vote.
"Polls are polls. You'd rather have him ahead, but they've been wrong before and you hope they are wrong again," Kean said.
They were joined by Schundler campaign manager Bill Pascoe, who said that though polls show McGreevey ahead, "His people are not enthused about him." By contrast, he said, Schundler's supporters are passionate about him.
One was a 47-year-old Westfield mother of two named Gina, who said she has supported Schundler's campaign even though she has never been involved in politics. "The polls are worthless," she said.
McGreevey seemed relaxed and confident as his campaign rolled through a number of stops in Essex County before ending the day with a big labor rally in Paramus last night.
Outside the West Orange public safety complex, he held a rally with supporters of tough gun control laws, part of his relentless effort to portray Schundler's views on gun ownership as out of step with mainstream New Jersey voters.
"There has never been a clearer contrast in gubernatorial elections in perhaps the last quarter of a century," McGreevey said.
During his visit to Westfield, Schundler spoke to about 500 students at the local high school where he graduated with honors in 1977 and was an all-state football player.
When several students asked him about his views on abortion, Schundler refused to apologize for his near-blanket opposition while acknowledging it will cost him votes. He added that when true leaders "feel something is right," they should "stand up and talk about it."
Later at a senior citizens center in Bridgewater, resident Ruth Turner said she, too, had concerns about Schundler's abortion views. But she said she was voting for Schundler even though she normally prefers Democrats. "Jim McGreevey is not strong enough in what he says. He seems too wishy-washy," she said.
But one prominent person who said he normally votes Republican, former U.S. attorney and federal judge Herbert Stern, said at the West Orange event that Schundler's views on gun ownership prompted him to endorse McGreevey.
Schundler had said he would sign legislation to expand the right to carry concealed weapons, if it had public and legislative support. He has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association. More recently, Schundler said he would not seek to change New Jersey's current gun laws.
"I support the laws we have," he reiterated yesterday.
Stern said he is "not willing to take the chance" that Schundler will refrain from trying to alter state laws that he says protect the public by helping to keep weapons from criminals and terrorists.
McGreevey was joined at the West Orange event by Donna Dees-Thomases of Short Hills, the moving force behind the Million Mom March, and former Rep. Michael Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The Democrat received the endorsement of both groups.
"This is an easy call," Barnes said. "This is not a close call for us. We endorse Republicans, we endorse Democrats where we see a clear difference on the issue of preventing gun violence and protecting our families and our communities, and this is one of the easiest ones I've ever seen."
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