Obama Sinks In New Jersey, Taking Corzine With Him

This is why Jon Corzine's upcoming defeat at the hands of Republican Chris Christie - in Deep Blue Jersey - is so significant:

Corzine decided to tie his election fate to Barack Obama, hoping the glow could overcome his vast negatives. Smooth move, Einstein...from Public Policy Polling:

Barack Obama's approval rating with likely voters for this fall's election in New Jersey has sunk to just 45%, with 48% of voters disapproving of him.

...Where he was at a positive 48/42 with unaffiliated voters then [July], that's now dropped to 36/56.

New Jersey is the first state where PPP has found more people who voted for Obama saying they disapprove of him than people who voted for John McCain that think he's doing a good job. 11% of Obama voters are now unhappy with him while just 6% of people who didn't support him last fall express approval for the job he's doing.

The health care issue doesn't seem to be doing him any favors in the state. Only 39% of voters say they support his plan while 50% are opposed.

And Corzine just looks dumber by the day. While proudly repeating Obama's laughable assertion that he put "the state on a path to long-term prosperity", and running ads touting his skill at job creation, this news rolls in:

The unemployment rate in New Jersey jumped from 9.3 percent to 9.7 percent in August, matching the national figure, the state said today.

"That is significant because we're now at the same level as the nation, and we're just shy of double-digit unemployment," said James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. "There's nothing positive. Most of the individual components are moving in the wrong direction."

Maybe Corzine ought to pull this ad? He's already eight points down with only six weeks to play; the last thing he needs to be accused of his false advertising...

A rhetorical question: When Corzine goes down, will the media highlight his attempt to align himself with Barack Obama, or will they attribute his defeat to "local politcs"?

Yeah, we all know the answer to that one...