The 2005 New Jersey Governors race.
...largest ports on the east coast. On November 8th New Jersey voters chose between Democrat Jon Corzine and Republican Doug Forrester. New Jerseys political history is rocky and fraught with scandal. Recently former governor James E. McGreevey (D) decided he would resign in August 2004 after a former male aid whom he had an extramarital affair with tried to extort him. At that time New Jersey had no lieutenant governor, when a governor resigned or left office he was replaced by the Senate President, who retained his post as Senate President during his tenure as acting governor. Some viewed the retention of the position of Senate President as giving too much power to the governorship, especially when that person was not elected for that position. Because this occurrence of needing an acting governor has occurred twice in the last 4 years, a measure was placed on the 2005 state ballot to require that all new candidates for governor have a running mate much like a vise president. This measure passed. The acting governor may run for normal office after his “acting” term has ended. Richard J. Cody (D), the acting governor after the McGreevey resignation, chose not to run after his party decided Jon Corzine was a better choice, mostly because Corzine had already pledged an unlimited amount of money from his own large fortune to finance his run for governor. This put both Corzine and Forrester in the middle of a rare occurrence in American gubernational el...