N.J.'s Kean Seeks GOP Help to Gain Cash

WASHINGTON - Republican Tom Kean Jr.'s positive poll numbers look small in comparison to another set of figures - the amount of cash rival Sen. Bob Menendez has to spend on the New Jersey race.

Which is why Kean was in Washington on Wednesday, meeting with officials from the National Republican Senatorial Committee in hopes of securing money and national party support.

Menendez had $7.39 million, according to the latest campaign filings, and has aired two television ads statewide and one radio spot. Kean had $2.25 million. He ran one television ad in June and few radio spots this summer but has no ads up with fewer than 50 days to the election.

New Jersey is one of the most expensive states for advertising, with candidates forced to buy airtime in both the costly New York and Philadelphia markets.

"We will have the resources," Kean said Wednesday in an interview as he rushed to catch a train back to New Jersey to attend another fundraiser.

Kean attended two fundraisers hosted by Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Rep. Mike Ferguson of New Jersey. Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani are slated to hold fundraisers for Kean next month in New Jersey.

Kean was buoyed by a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday showing him in a virtual tie with Menendez. Among likely voters, including those leaning toward a candidate, Kean holds a 48-45 percent edge over Menendez. Six percent remain undecided. The survey of 688 likely voters has an error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

The state's large bloc of unaffiliated voters is evenly split on whether they support Menendez or Kean, and they hold the key to deciding the election, said Clay Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. In recent history, these voters have swung Democratic.

Menendez campaign spokesman Matthew Miller looked past the virtual tie and plucked out the poll tidbit about 48 percent of voters agreeing with Menendez that Kean is a "George Bush Republican" who would support administration policies.

"That makes it impossible for him to win," Miller said.

Kean recently has been critical of Bush on various issues, including the war in Iraq, and has called for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to resign. Bush's approval rating in the state is just 33 percent, the poll showed.

Menendez was focused on the issue of tainted spinach, telling voters New Jersey is the nation's fourth-largest spinach producer. He asked the Food and Drug Administration to move rapidly in identifying where the spinach with the E. coli strains was being grown, and to issue a new advisory as soon as possible to say New Jersey spinach is safe.

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Quinnipiac University: http://www.quinnipiac.edu.