RGA raised and contributed $7.3 million to Christie's campaign

by: Jason Springer

Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 10:15:00 AM EST

Led by Mr. Barbour, the RGA raised and contributed $7.3 million to the campaign of New Jersey candidate Chris Christie, allowing him to put up enough TV advertising to hold off both a late-surging Gov. Jon Corzine, the Democratic incumbent, and independent Chris Daggett. The result for the crime-busting former U.S. attorney, Mr. Christie, was a big victory in a state won easily by Barack Obama just a year earlier.

Christie to get the "celebratory video" and "outdoor barbecue" treatment from the RGA

by: Jason Springer

Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 11:00:00 AM EST

Fresh off their decisive victories last week in Virginia and New Jersey, governors-to-be Bob McDonnell and Chris Christie will travel to Texas next week to meet with their future GOP colleagues at the Republican Governors Association annual conference in Austin, aides to the governors-elect said.

The two men will be introduced to their fellow Republicans with a celebratory video at the conference's opening session, according to an RGA spokesman.

Both Republicans are slated to speak later that day at an outdoor barbecue and will also hold a press conference alongside RGA chairman Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi.

The DGA role in the New Jersey election

by: Hopeful

Mon Oct 26, 2009 at 03:18:01 PM EDT

The reason we don't see DGA-branded advertising is that it is restricted by New Jersey state election law. Governor Jon Corzine is a member of the DGA so ads would not be "independent expenditures." In contrast, Chris Christie is not a member of the RGA (and, cough, cough, hopefully never will be) so it can run legally "independent" ads. The RGA has made a strategic decision to spend heavily to try to keep Christie competitive and to evade the spending limits the Christie campaign faces, though the DGA believes the RGA wasted money in the summer trying to bring down Corzine's numbers. (I guess if you're the one of the 40% on board with Corzine, a few attack ads are not going to discourage you at this point.)

The DGA has made a "different strategic decision," and has instead largely invested in party infrastructure to enable Get Out the Vote (GOTV) efforts. Around $1.5 million have been put into local party efforts. The DGA believes that this strategy will ensure sufficient Democratic voters will turn out, and that Democrats hold a significant advantage over Republicans. Furthermore, they think Daggett's lack of a local party infrastructure will hurt him at the polls. Experts have observed Democrats have a turnout advantage ("In the 2006 election for U.S. Senate, about 7-in-10 registered partisans showed up, but only 1-in-3 unaffiliateds did") but this reflects hard work made possible by major spending.

That's not to imply that the DGA has completely ignored the TV ad wars. They can -- and did --  direct money to independent progressive groups who in turn advertize. You might remember the Mid-Atlantic Leadership Fund's ads last spring, or the New Jersey Progress ads this fall. All in all, the DGFA will spend more than $3 million on the race.

RGA runs radio and TV ads against Daggett

by: Jason Springer

Thu Oct 15, 2009 at 12:15:00 PM EDT

RGA/Christie ran more ads than Corzine from July-September

by: Jason Springer

Fri Oct 09, 2009 at 11:00:00 AM EDT

In accepting matching funds, Christie faces a spending cap.

That's where the Republican Governors Association comes in. RCP asked Nielsen to pull the RGA's ad buys during the same period. The data shows that when combined with Christie's spending, the Republicans have actually been on the air with more ads than Corzine.

July: Corzine 1,908 -- Christie/RGA 1,739
August: Corzine 1,306 -- Christie/RGA 2,078
September: Corzine 1,592 -- Christie/RGA 1,402
TOTALS: Corzine 4,806 -- Christie/RGA 5,219

An important distinction: all of the ads that the RGA has launched were 15-second spots, while Corzine's have been 30-seconds and 60-seconds long. So while they may match up in numbers, Corzine has still purchased more time on the airwaves.

Still, the Corzine campaign points to the data to counter the Christie camp's assertion that the governor has bought his way back into the race.

"The Christie campaign's contention that this race is tight because of advertising overlooks the fact that the RGA has been funneling millions of dollars into New Jersey since before the primary to distort the Governor's record," said Corzine campaign spokesperson Lis Smith. "The more New Jersey voters learn about Chris Christie, the more they see that he is extremely wrong when it comes to what matters for the state."

This didn't take long

by: Jason Springer

Sat Aug 08, 2009 at 04:15:15 PM EDT

Daggett files for matching funds

by: Rosi Efthim

Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 03:22:45 PM EDT

If approved, this brings Daggett taxpayer matching funds equivalent to $2 in public money for every $1 he can raise, to a total of $10.9 million. Daggett says he expects to raise that maximum.

Chris Christie is also participating in the matching funds program. Corzine, a multi-millionaire who can draw on his own funds, has no spending limits.

And waiting in the wings for Corzine is the Democratic Governor's Association (DGA), which announces today it raised $11.6 million in the first half of 2009, with just two races this year - New Jersey and Virginia - in the schedule. The Republican Governors Association (RGA) reports raising even more at $12.2 million, with a record $20.4 million cash on hand.

Daggett, the former state Environmental Protection Commissioner running as an independent, with no equivalent national infrastructure behind him, will have no similar resources to draw on.

But this makes the race a little more complicated. I think the greater impact -  and pressure - is on Corzine, as both the incumbent called on to defend his record during harsh economic times, and as the candidate consistently trailing in the polls.  

Is Sarah Palin coming to New Jersey to campaign for Chris Christie?

by: Hopeful

Sat Jul 04, 2009 at 12:13:58 AM EDT

The head of the Republican Governor's Association said on Friday that in emails sent to him moments before she announced her resignation as governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin discussed expanding the role she played in the Republican Party.

"Part of her decision is she wants to spend more time campaigning for candidates," Nick Ayers, the executive director of the RGA, told Fox News.

"She felt like she needed to make her colleagues around the country aware, so she had given us a brief heads up," Ayers said of getting the emails. "We have known for a couple of days she was considering not running for re-election but it was news today that she had gone ahead and made the decision to fully step down and resign."

There are only two elections this year for the RGA: Virginia and New Jersey. After all, to the base, she'd be the equivalent of an Obama visit. So the question for reporters to ask Christie is: Will Chris Christie accept Sarah Palin's sacrifice on his behalf? She's available this month.  

Chris Christie's mentor Mark Sanford surfaces, weeps, shocks, and resigns

by: Rosi Efthim

Wed Jun 24, 2009 at 02:52:11 PM EDT

Christie's suddenly without an idol, suddenly without the national Republican - Gov. Mark Sanford - dedicated to using the Garden State as a springboard to reverse the fortunes of the entire Republican Party. Sanford just resigned as head of the Republican Governors Association (RGA) - it's still unclear whether he can keep his own governorship - at a bizarre, teary press conference. [VIDEO].The GOP was already bumbling around without effective message, little money and no win-strategy. This doesn't help much.

Now, Chris Christie loses a mentor who shuttled him cash, endorsements ... and ideas.

South Carolina's Sanford, who disappeared off the grid a few days ago - his wife didn't know, staff probably forced to lie for him, and some cockamamie story about the Appalachian Trail - turned up today. Turns out he was in Argentina, cheating on his family. And state.

Frankly, the level of irresponsibility is staggering, and terribly sad. Sanford not only left his state rudderless, but was so far off the grid he was on another continent. He was milk-carton gone. Gone a week.

Mark Sanford is Chris Christie's true north.

Here's a great audio clip posted on Blue Jersey by JRB - about how Christie based his own plan to reject federal stimulus package money for NJ if he's elected (good plan, dude!). JRB points out Christie chose the night before Obama addressed the nation on economic recovery to stand beside Sanford and pledge to reject stimulus funds for us. Same way Sanford had - RGA bright-idea man, first Republican Governor in the country to make that pledge. Christie had not yet even read the stimulus plan.  Sanford lauds Christie at RGA.

So, who wants to call Chris Christie and ask him the following:

1. Do you plan to give back contributions that Gov. Sanford gave you, and raised for you?
2. Will you comment on the irresponsibility of Gov. Sanford's leaving the country, with no warning?

If you get answers - even from staff - please post them here.  

NY Times tells RGA to cease and desist

by: Jason Springer

Sat Jun 20, 2009 at 09:14:02 AM EDT

The site -- known as the Corzine Times -- is a near facsimile of the New York Times homepage layout, a similarity that has prompted a cease and desist letter from the Times to the RGA.

"The title for the site is designed to recall the world famous, protected New York Times logo, and the pages use the same fonts and layouts as nytimes.com in order to mimic its design," writes the Times' Deborah Beshaw, who is an administrative assistant at the paper according to her profile on LinkedIn.

The letter goes on to demand that the RGA "cease and desist any further use of the The Times' design, format and other intellectual property in any manner whatsoever" and, if the RGA fails to comply within three days, "all available legal remedies will be pursued."