In his inaugural address, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine managed to promise progressive leadership, cite Carl Riccio, vigorously call for reform, mention the Jersey Girls, demand that he be held accountable by the voters, quote Bobby Kennedy, and piss off at least one machine boss. It looks like I got everything I voted for.

Here is perhaps my favorite section from the speech.

What we need is not a new day of reform, but a new era.  An era where working with or serving in New Jersey state government is not viewed as a chance to make a deal, but as an opportunity to make a difference. A way to enrich, not the well connected, but the lives of our children, our working families, our veterans, and retirees.

Public integrity is not just about reputation or principles, as important as each is.  What's at stake is social justice and fiscal responsibility.  Every dollar squandered in violation of the public trust is a book not bought for a classroom, a prescription drug with a higher co-pay, meals-on-wheels not delivered, a road or science lab not built.  With a multi-billion dollar structural deficit, mismanagement and misappropriation cannot and will not be tolerated.

The Star-Ledger covered the speech, mainly discussing Corzine's focus on reform and the fact that he's not the most exciting speaker on the planet. But even if the way he said things was not groundbreaking, it seems to be agreed that what he said most certainly was.

William Lutz, a professor of English at Rutgers University in Camden and author of numerous books on political rhetoric, said the delivery was so "low-key" that he first thought Corzine was "really flat." As he listened more, Lutz said, he concluded Corzine used "a very measured delivery because the content was very explosive."

Lutz said Corzine's "very ambitious agenda" included government ethics reform, a constitutional convention to lower property taxes and improvements in education, health, the environment, economic development and services for senior citizens.

"He's thrown down the gauntlet," said Lutz, adding that if Corzine delivers, the speech could lay "the groundwork for a presidential bid."

Early on in the campaign, before I even started blogging here, I had a conversation with Matt about the gubernatorial race. A point that was made during that phone call that New Jersey is an interesting political microcosm. It's a blue state, but it's certainly not a no-man's land for Republicans. It's an incredibly diverse state, ethnically speaking. It's home to everything from family farms (it is, after all, the Garden State) to high-tech businesses. In other words, the state has the potential to be an amazing laboratory for progressive governance that can serve as an example to the nation. Governor Corzine is the right person to realize that potential.