Jersey State Photo Fumble

What's the secretary of American University's College Democrats chapter doing in a campaign photo for New Jersey gubernatorial candidate and conservative Republican Bret Schundler?

Providing the textbook case for why it's dangerous to digitally alter photographs, that's what.

Laura Reznick, 21, is an ardent Democrat. Search for the American University student's name on Google and you find out her instant messaging address is "democrattotheend." Her recommended reading list on Amazon.com includes Al Franken's "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them," "Bushwhacked" by Molly Ivins and "Big Lies: The Right-Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth." She wrote a campaign song to the tune of " Pink Houses" by John Cougar Mellencamp.

So it seemed rather strange when her mug showed up in a crowd screaming its support for Schundler, the former mayor of Jersey City and one of seven men vying for the Republican nomination to run against Democratic candidate Sen. Jon Corzine. Schundler, who once worked on one of Gary Hart's presidential campaigns, is now a proud member of the GOP revolution. His campaign Web site touts praise from conservatives such as President George W. Bush and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who called him "the most exciting Republican in the country."

New Jersey politics being what they are, it wouldn't be surprising if the Reznick photo mishap were a secret tactic by one of his rivals to try to derail his campaign just before Tuesday's GOP primary. No such luck; it's a case of human error. Schundler in fact was standing in front of a photo taken of supporters of Howard Dean during his 2004 presidential bid.

The Bergen Record, one of the state's most widely read papers, plastered the story and the photographs all over its front page Friday. In its report, the Record quoted Schundler spokesman Bill Pascoe as saying that the photo was assembled by Big Fish, a Washington, D.C.,-based marketing and advertising firm that did similar work for Dean's 2004 presidential bid.

"The campaign was aware that Schundler's image was clipped and superimposed on a political rally photo, but they did not know it was taken at a Dean event, he said," the Record reported. Pascoe also told the paper that "It was a minor irritation for about 10 minutes."

Here's Pascoe trying to play down the error in a statement on the PoliticsNJ.com Web site: "As anyone who visits the front page of our website can see, Bret Schundler has no difficulty generating crowds of supporters wherever he goes. The amazing thing -- and, in fact, the really newsworthy thing -- is that Democrats are pushing this 'story' as hard as they are."

Big Fish chief Tom Frank told the Record that his firm apologized for the error, which he said was committed by a junior staffer who superimposed Reznick's baseball cap showing support for Howard Dean with one supporting Schundler. He did the same to a Dean for President campaign poster.

Schundler's two top foes -- former West Windsor, N.J., mayor Doug Forrester (R) and Corzine -- haven't made any hay of the incident on their Web sites. Instead, the Democratic National Committee stepped in as political committees often do when we reporters need some catty comments: "Josh Earnest, a DNC spokesman, said the incident was a telling example of the state of New Jersey's Republican party. 'They say a picture is worth a thousand words,' Earnest said. 'But this one speaks volumes that New Jersey Republicans like Bret Schundler have to steal photos of Democrats to try to convince voters that people are excited about Republican campaigns.'"

Reznick also landed a few punches when the Record interviewed her: "'I think it's pathetic that he couldn't get a group of his own enthusiastic young people. ... There are plenty of people my age who are, sadly enough, Republican.'"

The incident played out in the blogosphere this past weekend, with plenty of Democrat supporters picking up on it. It was broken on PoliticsNJ.com, described by multiple news sources as a Web site for Garden State political junkies. The site still has the story running on its homepage (and a much larger side-by-side presentation of the photos). PoliticsNJ.com site updated the story after a photographer who claimed to have shot the Dean photo complained that Big Fish violated his copyright on the image.