You almost have to feel sorry for the guy. He suffers through four years of being Governor (a job he wasn’t likely ever all that interested in), he spends a ton of his own money running for president in 2008, then when he loses he dutifully backs the ticket despite almost surely detesting both halves of it, he spends the next three years doling out money to candidates around the country via his PAC, he starts out this year as the front-runner, he gets eclipsed by flashy Rick Perry but starts clawing his way back to being competitive by deftly taking advantage of Perry’s many weaknesses, and what thanks does he get?
Chris Christie’s political advisers are working to determine whether they could move fast enough to set up effective political operations in Iowa and New Hampshire in the wake of a relentless courtship aimed at persuading Mr. Christie, the governor of New Jersey, to plunge into the race for the Republican presidential nomination, according to operatives briefed on the preparations…. Those pushing Mr. Christie to run include the media mogul Rupert Murdoch, former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, Nancy Reagan and the conservative columnist William Kristol…. The pressure on Mr. Christie has come from just about every direction. It came at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California last week, where everyone from members of the audience to Mrs. Reagan urged him to reconsider his refusal to run….
In private conversations, several Republican governors have suggested that Mr. Christie consider running, as well. One of them was Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio, who has publicly praised Mr. Christie, saying in a recent Bloomberg View forum that “he has a certain magic about him.”
Does anyone see a repeat of PerryMania coming here? If Christie jumps in, he will undoubtedly rocket to the top of the polls as the flavor of the month, just as Perry did. But as GOP voters from states other than New Jersey and New York – and there are a lot of those – get to know Christie better, they may not be so thrilled with what they see. Among other things, Christie is a very, well, blunt speaker. There’s a long trail of video and audio clips of Christie-isms that a lot of GOP voters may find somewhat discomfiting.
Meanwhile, ol’ Mitt keeps a-pluggin’ along. Frankly, whether or not Christie jumps in, I still think Mitt will be the nominee, as I have for a long time. But those wacky GOP voters could surprise me!
The Florida defiance of rules means we could actually have primaries in January – so the time to try to build a network is past.
The national GOP has founded its entire identity on pretending that unrestrained selfishness and greed is somehow idealistic and good for all of us. It is completely consistent with that identity for Florida to flout whatever semblance of rules are left. The entire GOP pre-primary season has been a circus of lies, delusions, and egregious blunders.
I suspect that the grownups in the GOP see the same circus the rest of us see, and desperately hope that someone — anyone — will rescue the GOP from the collection of liars, fools, and shills that currently comprise its presidential candidates.
I think the egregiously selfish behavior of the Florida GOP fits right into the national identity. I hope the entire enterprise implodes as a natural consequence of its own intellectual fraud.
I think Chris Christie probably is a better candidate than all of them, especially including Mitt Romney. I’d rather not vote for Mitt Romney than not vote for Chris Christie, so I hope that Mr. Christie stays or is kept out of the race.
he’s too reasonable some of the time to appeal to the tea party, and he’s too much of a bully the rest of the time to appeal to the moderates. In just a few years he’s generated quite a long list of video clips of him being a jerk.
[I should probably make some joke about hard falls or gravitational pull or something here.]
Chris Christie is a terrible candidate, and your observations are as usual spot on. I think his sudden ascendancy speaks to the realization in senior GOP circles that the other candidates are even MORE terrible. I think Mitt Romney is the most electable of the currently-announced crop. I think Chris Christie is terrible, but less terrible than Mitt Romney (perhaps marginally so).
It looks as though it will be fun to watch the fur fly when Florida attempts to hold its January primary.
the Governor who turned around the financial mess in New Jersey is so terrible? Most of that state’s inhabitants seem satisfied with the job that he is doing. Is it such a terrible thing not to cave to the teachers’ unions and state employee unions?
you think the state’s inhabitants seem satisfied with the job that he is doing.
Christie negative poll numbers 33-37 (Apr 2010)
Christie poll at new low 44-47 (Jun 2011)
Christie has negative favorability 45-47 (Aug 2011)
Christie poll numbers worsen 42-49 (Aug 2011)
Busted. 😀
His ratings are up now largely due to his successful handling of Hurricane Irene crisis, they were actually quite low during the battle with unions. That said, have a begrudging respect for Christie on a few points. He is in favor of civil unions, he is actually to the left of the President on illegal immigration (when interviewed he said it was immoral to call them criminals), and was quite vocal in defending the Cordoba mosque and a Muslim judicial appointee he made from the bigoted anti-Muslim right. Of course all the reasons I like him make him quite unelectable amongst the Republican rank and file :p
…that what the DREAM Act in Texas is for Perry, Sharia Law will be for Christie. It’s too bad that anytime a GOPer says anything remotely reasonable the base comes down like a ton of bricks.
This speech on the budget was praised by members of both parties in New Jersey. Kirth is currect about his current poll nummbers, which are about the same as Patrick’s here in Mass, but far better than Obama’s nationwide. We will see what happens on all fronts during the next election. Here he is speaking truth to power: http://www.nj.com/news/local/index.ssf/2010/04/governor_extends_deadline_for.html
It seems their manuevers in 2008 caused headaches for the Democrats and now they want to make life difficult for the GOP. For the record 10/28 is the filing deadline for the NH primary.