http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051105/ap_on_el_gu/elections_rdp_1In an off-year election, campaigns for governor in New Jersey and Virginia have turned especially nasty, dragging in Adolf Hitler and an ex-wife's claim of betrayal in negative ads that pollsters say have turned off the public.
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And that's not all. A paralyzed teen in a wheelchair criticized one candidate's stem-cell research stance in New Jersey, records have been distorted in both states, and a $470,000 loan to a politically connected ex-lover sparked accusations of wrongdoing in New Jersey. Spending records were broken in both states, while polls show voters are unenthusiastic.
"It's awful," said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "These two races are the worst possible combination — nasty and dull. It doesn't get any worse."
Corzine accused Forrester, a Republican businessman, of being part of the state's "pay-to-play" culture of awarding no-bid government contracts to political donors. Forrester tied Corzine, a former Wall Street executive, to a convicted businessman and former Gov. Jim McGreevey, who resigned over an extramarital gay sex scandal.