Tonight marks the first of three gubernatorial debates between Jon Corzine, Chris Christie and Chris Daggett, and it comes at a pivotal point in the campaign.  

The race is tightening, according to two well-respected non-partisan polls released this week.   Corzine has driven up Christie’s negatives, though they don’t match his own upside down approval and favorability ratings.   And data shows he’s managed to do it partly on the back of the mammogram issue.   Meanwhile, Daggett got great press by coming out with an actual specific tax plan, which only reinforced the notion that the two major party candidates were bickering and waging petty personal attacks (see The Ledger’s editorial here).

This debate was almost put off until three weeks from now.   Corzine said he couldn’t fit it in his schedule, leading an accommodating NJN to ask the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) to put it off to October 22^nd.   NJN’s commissioners deadlocked at 2-2 along partisan lines – a rare occurrence – and Corzine reluctantly agreed to debate today.   Since Christie and Daggett receive matching funds from the state, they have to participate (unlike, say, write-in independent Uncle Floyd, who would have added a unique perspective to tonight’s debate).  

Expect panelists Michael Aron, Cindy Burton and Bob Ingle to dig into the more meaty issues that haven’t gotten a lot of air time in the campaign so far – especially property taxes.   Expect them to press Christie for more specifics, and to needle Corzine on what he has in store for a second four-year term.