With New Jersey’s economy in the dumpster*, Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie is making a big push for his “Energy as Industry” plan. Viewers may be surprised to see the figure who appears early in Christie’s video discussing his plan:

It’s audacious framing — I’ll enact the renewable energy plans supported by the president, while Governor Corzine has only talked about it – but it may be an attempt to preempt Obama’s visit to campaign with Corzine on July 16 at Rutgers.

Why is the president going to a college campus in the middle of summer, when most of the students are away? Television ads — Corzine needs as many images of him attached at the hip to the president as possible. With Corzine unpopular and Obama popular, my guess is that the embattled incumbent may attempt to legally change his name to Barack Obama Corzine between now and November.

* How bad is New Jersey’s economy? A mortgage insurer calculates that if you plan on selling your house in 2011, you have a 97 percent chance of selling at a lower price two years from now in Edison and 96 percent chance in Newark.