Engulfed in a sea of Rutgers students, signing "Corzine for Governor" posters and taking camera phone pictures requests, U.S. Sen. Jon S. Corzine, D-N.J., conducted himself more like a rock star in front of the Rutgers Student Center yesterday than a gubernatorial candidate fighting for his life.
With the latest polls showing Corzine and Doug Forrester, the Republican candidate, as close as 48-44 percent in favor of Corzine, there is a fear that the Democrats could be losing their grip on the supposedly solid blue state of New Jersey.
History says it's at this point that politicians most aggressively court constituents such as college students. Voting trends indicate that college students largely vote Democrat, and in Middlesex County, democrats are in power. Courting the student vote may prove crucial to the close gubernatorial race.
"This is where the future is, and a lot of voters too," Corzine said as the reason behind the decision to come to Rutgers.
Though Corzine hasn't yet adopted a campaign song, the songs blasting yesterday centered on youth culture, with lyrics such as "He took off her dress now" from The Killers song "Mr. Brightside."
These lyrics contrasted with discussion about foreign policy and strengthening environmental laws.
In photo-ops, Corzine took separate pictures holding up copies of The Medium, a weekly newsprint which publishes frontal nudity, and The Centurion, the conservative journal at Rutgers.
Still, every politician has to go through the motions to win the vote, and the rally could be seen as successful in courting both potential voters and workers for the Corzine campaign.
According to the polls, property taxes and corruption have been highlighted as the most important issues concerning New Jersey voters. But such discussion was absent from Corzine's speech. Many present are students living in rental and on-campus housing, making property tax reform a moot point.
According to Corzine's policy statements, however, these topics remain at the forefront of his campaign.
In contrast, topics most affecting college students were prominent. References to tuition aid grants and loan forgiveness permeated much of his message.
In fact, his short speech to attendants of the rally largely consisted of a more general get-out-and-vote address rather than a laundry list analysis of the issues.
"We need to take charge and send a message to America that we want our country for our future, for you, and we're going to invest in it, and I need your help," he said.
But after the speech, Corzine directly addressed students' concern for at least a half hour, placing himself inside the crowd rather than just taking questions from the podium.
Even as his assistants starting pulling him away to his van, Corzine actually walked back to address students yelling out questions.
Though according to his critics, Corzine is most associated with a multimillionare businessman, his demeanor yesterday inside the crowd and on the podium attempted to present Corzine as a public servant genuinely interested in voters' concerns.
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