And the Winner Is... the Guy With the Catchier Property Tax Plan

PLAINSBORO, N.J. -- Doug Forrester won the New Jersey Republican primary for governor, beating his closest rival, Bret Schundler, by five percentage points in a light-turnout election. One issue dominated the campaign: Soaring property taxes.

Mr. Forrester's plan to reduce property taxes by one-third over three years had a catchy name ("the 30 in 3 plan") and he presented it clearly in debates and campaign ads. Mr. Schundler's big failing was his poor job of communicating his own approach. The Schundler plan was the more economically feasible of the two because it sought to reward municipalities for controlling spending. But it read like an Ikea manual without the pictures and voters just couldn't get their hands around it.

Democrat Jon Corzine will be a difficult candidate to beat. He's popular and wealthy and is willing to spend his own money to win. He spent $63 million to win his Senate seat and clinched his party's nomination for governor by seeding state Democratic causes to the tune of $5 million. Aides to Mr. Forrester told me at last night's victory celebration that they will try to frame Mr. Corzine as a promoter of corruption by linking his free-spending ways to his relationships with ethically-challenged state political figures. They'll also continue to push their property tax plan. It wouldn’t hurt to drum up some pizzazz too: Aside from the teenagers recruited to wave campaign placards in front of the TV cameras, the Forrester faithful last night seemed a listless, low-energy bunch (and the band was awful).

Mr. Corzine's proposal for lowering property taxes remains vague; like Mr. Forrester, he says he'll use savings from wasteful spending and patronage to lower taxes. Whatever. Neither candidate's plan aims to control local spending, the true source of the state's high property taxes. And both want to keep New Jerseyans addicted to the selective tax rebates they've come to expect from Trenton.

-- Christian Knoebel