Posted on 08/14/2013 6:29:08 AM PDT by Qbert
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie finds himself in an awkward situation as he mulls whether to offer any support to his party's tea party Republican Senate nominee, Steve Lonegan, against his Democratic friend and off-and-on political ally, Cory Booker.
Lonegan, who cruised to victory in Tuesday's Republican primary, has a frosty relationship with Christie, dating back to his primary challenge to the governor in the 2009 campaign. Just this week, Lonegan earned a public scolding from the governor for his campaign's racially-tinged Tweet attacking Booker. "This is a governor who calls it like he sees it." said a source close to Christie. "When Steve Lonegan says something and reporters want the governor's reaction, he'll tell people what he thinks."
But if Christie fails to support his fellow Republican in the Senate race, he could take blowback from conservatives, already annoyed by his relationship with President Obama on hurricane recovery and lack of interest in helping the party contest the vacant Senate seat. Christie allies expect the governor to offer Lonegan a formal endorsement, but don't expect the governor to lift a finger to campaign or raise money for his party's nominee or lend him support in his long-shot campaign against Booker for the October special election. "It doesn't seem like that's something he would invest in," said one member of Christie's inner circle. "Resources are limited."
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
He’s not a republican, why would anyone expect him to endorse a republican. He’s about as republican as Bloomberg.
Christie has strengths and faults. One of his most glaring faults is that he is only for Christie. No team loyalty at all. He’s the Terrell Owens or Chad OchoCinco of politics.
In politics, you back your party’s candidate, period.
There's really bad blood there. Christie knows that Lonegan is more principled than he is, and way smarter, which Lonegan made uncomfortably clear in his primary ads against Christie.
In other words, Christie will campaign for 0bama, but not a pro-life, free-market conservative in his own party.
That's been a big part of the problem- what happens when you can't back your party's candidate? Write-in campaigns are seldom very effective.
“It doesn’t seem like that’s something he would invest in,” said one member of Christie’s inner circle. “Resources are limited.”
Exactly. All those limited resources are tied up in doughnut futures.
Bump
Christie pulled out all the stops for this special election. He scheduled an actual primary election, rather than leaving the choice of candidates to the two party's leadership in smoke-filled rooms. He scheduled the special election on October 16 -- which is a Wednesday, and just a few weeks before the Governor's election on November 5th.
If any election was ever designed to favor a truly conservative candidate like Lonegan in New Jersey, it's a special election on a Wednesday a few weeks before a general election. Only the core voters of either party are likely to make it to the polls. Of course, Christie didn't do this because he wanted to help Lonegan. He did it because he didn't want to appear on the same ballot with Cory Booker.
So far the polling doesn't look too good for Lonegan.
There are some ethical/business questions with Booker that might gain some traction before the election if the media decides to go after it. We'll see how this works out. I am not optimistic.
My hubby knows someone who worked with Christie when he was a US Attorney. When Christie was the newly elected Governor this person told hubby that Christie was disliked by everyone in the Attorney's office because he was a backstabber who was out for only himself. Back then my husband thought it was a case of sour grapes, but now we know it was a spot on description.
Why doesn’t he get it over with and become a Rat?
He’s obviously got a thing for black men.
Isn’t there a certain blonde “conservative” talking head who thought Christie was the bee’s knees during the last election cycle.
That’s because he’s an @$$#01e.
Do not forget, this is the Republican Party we are talking about.
They have a history of supporting Democrats by ignoring or even speaking out against conservative candidates. So it really is not too much of a reach for Christie to actually campaign for Booker.
Christie can’t support a Republican over a Democrat?
Christie is only a Republican because the Democrats wouldn’t have him.
“But if Christie fails to support his fellow Republican in the Senate race, he could take blowback from conservatives..”
According to his political mentor, Tom Kean Snr. He should just blow off the 40% of conservatives in Middle America in his Presidential run as they have nowhere else to go.
If he signs those three anti-gun bills on his desk, he will be signalling he has done just that - and go down to defeat like Romney and Juan McManiac.
"Christie pulled out all the stops for this special election. He scheduled an actual primary election, rather than leaving the choice of candidates to the two party's leadership in smoke-filled rooms... He did it because he didn't want to appear on the same ballot with Cory Booker.
Yep. I have a theory that the whole Christie-Obama bromance was designed to keep Booker from running for Governor, as well: In late summer of 2012, Booker irritated Obama's campaign by publicly rebuking them for slamming Romney over his ties to Bain. (After all, it was Obama's biggest campaign theme- Romney was Hitler because of Bain).
Axlerod & Co. made an offer to Christie- go over the top in making Obama look good before the presidential election (and most importantly, help him look bipartisan in order to appeal to moderates), and we'll use our power to keep Booker from running against you. Christie loved it because he's only in it for himself...
Tubby is trying hard to stay on the center stripe until after November, when he’ll move over to the right hand lane in anticipation of the 2016 Presidential primaries.
Like an overweight Gumby, he’s ‘malleable’.
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