With less than 100 days to go before the November general election, the gubernatorial candidates and their newly announced running mates were out campaigning over the weekend, hitting local diners and knocking on doors, hoping the lieutenant governor picks will help stir up enthusiasm and votes as we head into the fall.

Senior political correspondent David Cruz takes a closer look at the Democratic and Republican tickets.

The rollout for the lieutenant governor candidates was a contrast in campaign styles.

Republican Jack Chiattarelli held an old school rally at a Morris County bar, albeit with coffee and donuts and not much beer.

Democrat Mikey Sherrill, on the other hand, took to Twitter to make her announcement a couple of days later, then hit the road with her pick this weekend.

But what does it say about the roles these candidates will likely play as the campaign rolls on?

Are you better off after eight years of Phil Murphy as your governor?

Are you better off after twenty five years of Democrats controlling the state legislature?

Are you better off after six years of Mikey Sherrill in Congress?

Republican Jim Gannon is the Morris County sheriff, a former beat cop from a law enforcement family.

He'll hammer home a nativist law and order theme.

We'll repeal the dangerous, dangerous sanctuary state and we'll take the handcuffs off our police and restore law and order.

Dale Caldwell has degrees from Princeton, the Wharton School and Seton Hall University.

He's founded a charter school, run the eastern section of the United States Tennis Association and is pastor at Covenant United Methodist Church in Plainfield.

He's been a board of Ed member in New Brunswick and served in education posts and state government.

He's also black, which in the world of politics is called balance.

I think a lot of people expected that Jack Chiattarelli might pick a woman to be his his running mate.

He did last time in Diane Allen.

He decided not to this time.

My guess is that he just felt that there were other aspects that that that outweighed those considerations.

Probably the law and order argument is a big part of it.

And my sense is I think, you know, Jim Gannon being a pretty popular sheriff in the backyard of Mikey Sherrill's legislative district probably has a lot to do with the two.

In your mind, does this ticket represent the diversity of New Jersey?

I think it does.

How so?

Well, you got two white guys.

We're men of the one of them.

The men of the people.

Longtime Caldwell friend and Democratic strategist Janine LaRue chuckles at that answer, but says in the end, few voters will consider who the gubernatorial candidates.

Number two was.

I don't look negatively at the fact that Chiattarelli selected law enforcement.

I was glad that in the case of Mikey Sherrill and the truth of the matter is that she had chosen not to select a person of color.

That would not have been a bad message for me either.

I look at candidates.

What I am excited about what our candidate, Mikey Sherrill, has done is that she has really shown that she will think out of the box.

If you had to contrast these two picks, you'd have to say that Gannon, a Morris County stalwart, represents a philosophy that state government is part of the problem, while Caldwell, whose public life has mostly been spent in and around it, represents the position that government can be part of the solution.

I'm David Cruz, NJ Spotlight News.

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