Chris Christie, writes the Star-Ledger Editorial Board, is a no-go due to “his sketchy budget plans and his relative lack of familiarity with the details of state government.” Jon Corzine is well-admired, but too beholden to special interests, including unions:

[he is] an eminently decent and likable man, and not without achievement. We especially salute his unflagging commitment to state education and his success in changing the Abbott school aid formula to ensure that money intended to help poor children follows them whether or not they live in specific districts.

But his shortcomings as a leader are serious. They’ve become all too apparent in his dealings with public employee unions, an often unruly Legislature and a Democratic Party that is, at best, an ethically compromised ship and, at worst, harbors a corrupt crew…

Corzine is the chaplain on a pirate ship, not really its captain.

Chris Daggett, the Star-Ledger concludes, represents N.J.’s best hope to change “the corrosive culture of Trenton.”