Jon Corzine’s Pro-Woman Campaign Approach

Since moving to New York City, I’ve caught quite a few TV ads for both Jon Corzine and Chris Christie’s campaigns in the NJ gubernatorial race. Jon Corzine began a steep uphill battle, due to NJ’s poor economic situation, as well as the July 2009 corruption scandal involving 40-something NJ officials, rabbis, and possible organ trafficking. But what struck me was the direction and focus of his current campaign ads. At least half of what I’ve seen targets women’s issues and GOP candidate Christie’s reluctance to protect women’s health.

I stumbled upon this article from The Nation, which posits that Corzine’s campaign has become revitalized due to his decision to market to the left– not paint himself as a moderate:

What did Corzine do? Instead of steering to the center, or the Blue Dog right, he turned left. Looking to rally Democratic voters, he patched up shaky relations with the state’s unions and linked his campaign so closely to the president that his billboards now feature images of Obama and Corzine…and as Congressional Democrats wavered on the issue, Corzine made healthcare reform a focus of his campaign.

It’s noticeable that Corzine’s campaign has decided to go where few Democrats these days are bold enough to go — the left. But I think what stands out even more to me is his clear decision to make women’s issues at the center of the election. He has powerful TV spots about Christie’s apathy for women’s health screenings, as Christie sides with the insurance companies to not mandate that they cover mammograms or pap smears:

Christie is now on the defensive about the issue, arguing that a mammogram saved his mother’s life.  But his rebuttal seems a little unclear and still reflects a sort of elitism. It sort of gives you the feeling that Christie believes some women should get mammograms– but doesn’t care enough about extending access to all women of all socio-economic statuses.

Additionally, Corzine doesn’t shy away from discussing abortion, with an ad that accuses Christie of not supporting a woman’s right to choose. With an ominous music note in the background, Corzine’s ad zeros in on the subject, highlighting that Christie even supports a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. It’s meant to scare you, and it should— but it’s surprising because few Democrats go that far in their fear mongering on the issue. It’s generally been the tactic of Dems to soften their definition of “pro-choice” — to mitigate their pro-choice voting records with caveats and apologies about how, no, really, abortion is evil, but we should protect it in some circumstances. That sort of back-peddling and side-stepping around the issue always bothers me, and it’s refreshing to see how Corzine doesn’t use that approach:

He has one other ad that ties up a lot of his pro-woman policies– paid family leave, protected health coverage, hospital stays for giving birth, and the right to choose. He’s actually speaking directly at women, not just about them.

Politics is politics, and I don’t know enough about either Corzine or Christie to know for sure which are facts and which are stretches– but the important takeaway is that this election is a rare example of women’s health and rights being at the heart of the fight. It can be a pretty powerful thing.