MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (AP) — If Republican Chris Christie is being outspent by Democratic incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine in New Jersey's down-to-the-wire gubernatorial election, independent Chris Daggett is being swamped.
Corzine, a former Wall Street executive who funded his own winning campaigns for U.S. Senate in 2000 and governor in 2005, is paying his own way again his re-election effort.
Through Oct. 23 — with 11 days left before voting — his campaign had spent $23.6 million. More than $22 million of that came from Corzine's own pockets. This month alone, he has donated $5 million to his campaign and loaned it $2 million more, according to campaign funding reports made public Tuesday by the state Election Law Enforcement Commission.
That sum is relatively modest for a Corzine campaign. He seems unlikely to come close to matching the $63 million he spent to run for Senate and $40 million to run for governor in 2005.
But it's still more than twice as much as Christie, a former federal prosecutor, has raised and will be allowed to spend on the entire campaign.
Because he's accepting public matching money, Christie agreed not to spend more than $10.9 million in the general election. He has raised $4.4 million and received $7.3 million from taxpayers. That gives him enough to spend the maximum and still have enough left over for his election night party and other costs that aren't subject to the limit.
Daggett, meanwhile, had raised a total of $1.3 million, including more than $700,000 in matching money. He had spent $1.1 million and still owed $510,000 to an advertising agency.
Daggett, a former state environmental official, said he intended to raise the maximum amount, but he's fallen way short.
Daggett said the poor economy means there's less money to go around, and people are leery of making donations to an independent. He says he has raised enough to produce and a TV commercial — it would be only his second — in the campaign's final days.
Corzine bought television commercial airtime three time between Oct. 5 and 19. The least expensive of those buys was worth more than Daggett had raised in the entire campaign.
Christie's campaign, which lagged way behind in spending earlier in the election, has saved up to buy television time during the home stretch. He bought a total of $1.76 million worth of broadcast airtime in two buys earlier this month. And with 11 days left in the campaign, he had $2.9 million in the bank — most of which is going toward commercials.
It's clear from polls in the race that every vote doesn't have the same cost. Corzine and Christie have been running close, both with about 40 percent of the vote — and in some polls, less. Daggett has polled as high as 20 percent.
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