Gov. Jon Corzine has decided that to win re-election, he has to sit at the cool kids' table.Several new billboards throughout the state -- including one on Perry Street in Trenton -- portray President Obama at a podium, with Corzine looking on. The slogan of the billboards reads "Keep it going."
"It's about continuing the progress that New Jersey has helped start in November by electing President Barack Obama," said Elisabeth Smith, Corzine's press secretary. "Jon Corzine has been a true partner to President Obama."
The new thrust comes as Corzine trails Republican nominee Chris Christie by anywhere between five and 11 percentage points.
The intended interpretation might get lost on the voting public, especially when it is emblazoned on a billboard that appears to be advertising an Obama-Corzine ticket.
"Slogans are meant to mean whatever you want it to mean," said Peter Woolley, a political scientist who runs the polling institute at Fairleigh Dickinson University. "The connotation is 'Come out and vote again.' To those who voted for Obama, come vote again, and vote for Corzine."
Despite declining approval ratings nationally, Obama is still popular in New Jersey, with an approval rating of 56 percent in the most recent Farleigh Dickinson poll.
He's especially popular in Trenton, where he crushed Republican John McCain by an 11-to-1 margin last November.