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In the past two weeks, Chris Daggett has been fond of saying to anyone who would listen that he was the only candidate in the governor's race who had been pushing things forward.

"I'm the only one with forward momentum," he said a week ago, almost laughing at his own assessment. "The others are going backwards."

In the final hours of the governor's race - when the Somerset County resident learned how he fared against his rivals, incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine and Republican challenger Chris Christie - Daggett may not have made that claim in public.

Conceding his run, before a crowd at the Dolce center in Basking Ridge on Tuesday night, he said, "We hoped the power of ideas would trump the power of money in elections, but sadly in New Jersey tonight, that's not the case."

But whatever the final vote-count, Daggett still is seen by many as being right on his assertion: While Corzine and Christie remain very much establishment politicians, Daggett ran an idiosyncratic but forward-looking campaign full of firsts.

The former environmental official - and childhood resident of Linwood - hit the spotlight in April, as a seasoned career public servant who intended to make a run for the Statehouse without the backing of any party, major or minor, and who received public funds to do it.

By mid-October, Daggett astonished mainstream observers by pulling as much as 20 percent support among polled voters.

And not content to fight for himself, Daggett led a lawsuit in New Jersey's Superior Court on behalf of all independents, against the state's practice of placing major-party candidates at the top of any voter ballot.

To call the practice "discriminatory" and "unconstitutional" seemed more than gutsy - more like scrapping for a fight. Among the suit's defendants, Daggett named Corzine himself.

As with any groundbreaking candidacy, Daggett's every move has been analyzed to death.

"He's been called a spoiler, of course," said Murray Sabrin - who ran as a third-party candidate in 1997 and who almost snarls in memory at the dismissive term.

"Almost every third-party or independent will get called that - it's almost as if the Republicans and Democrats think they've been ordained to run the state," he complained.

But if Daggett isn't a spoiler, what is he?

"We can already ask if what he did is historic," said Sabrin, now a professor of finance at Ramapo University in Bergen County, speaking Tuesday as voters streamed to the polls. "To grab 10 percent of the vote would be a great achievement," he said, before polls closed. "To get 15 would be huge."

But with 90 percent of precincts reporting unofficial results at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Daggett appeared to hold about 5 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, Christie led Corzine in those same unofficial results by about 5 percent.

And even as he conceded, theories about Daggett's candidacy still swirled: How had he been helping - or hurting - other candidates.

"The thinking has been, he would pull from Christie, only because they're already dissatisfied with Corzine as governor," explained Ben Dworkin, director of Rider University's Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics, on Friday.

Out on the trail, Republicans started to worry in the last month of the campaign.

Even if all they knew about the independent was his name.

"Who is this Daggett guy, anyway?" Agnes Giardineri, of Middle Township, demanded to a crowd of Republican loyalists at an Oct. 15 event outside Cape May Court House. "I don't know anything about what he stands for - but my friends are all talking about him."

Her question was met by surprising stony silence: "I'm not stumping for him," finished Dan Lockwood , a successful candidate for Middle Township Committee, who refused to say a word more.

At 6:45 p.m. on Election Day, Jane Baker counted herself among those for Daggett. "I picked Daggett - based on my friends' recommendation - because I just don't want to vote for a Chris Christie," she explained in the hallway of a senior center in Basking Ridge. "Because Christie is the side of the Republican Party I don't like."

Nine hours earlier, Daggett had cast his own vote there - as a local resident whose father was once mayor.

But in the past few days, the question was raised: What if Daggett also was pulling from Corzine?

"It's not so strange, when you think about it," Sabrin said Tuesday - before Corzine had conceded his loss. "What about those voters who would otherwise hold their nose and cast a vote for Corzine? Might (Daggett) have given them a third option?"

Pete Wilkins thought he might have been one of those guys. Stepping out of the room at St. Joseph's School gymnasium in Bound Brook, he said he had toyed with making that leap to Daggett.

But one thought had stopped him.

"How will he get anything done?" he wondered aloud. "Wouldn't he be obstructed all the way?"

So Wilkins ignored his leanings - and voted Democratic down the ticket.

The thought of those leaning his way seemed to frustrate Daggett. "I think many said, 'A pox on all your houses,'" Daggett said. If they managed to resist the urge to stay home, he said, the "corrosive" tone of the whole race may have dissuaded them from voting for an outsider.

Some questions remain for post-mortem in the coming days - among them, whether Daggett's candidacy attracted new or lapsed voters, or even now will encourage more independents to run.

Daggett said he hoped to continue with his lawsuit to fight for equal ballot position for independent candidates. And he wondered if others would follow him in the arduous task of standing outside the party system.

"That doesn't mean it can't be done," he said. "And people ought to try. I hope if nothing else I've inspired people somewhere across this country to stand up for what they think is the right thing to do."

Contact Juliet Fletcher:

609-272-7251

JFletcher@pressofac.com

1 comment:

• Tin Lizzy (57) posts 12:27 pm

  Q: "But if Daggett isn't a spoiler, what is he?" A: An arsehole and egotist. Thanks for asking.

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