[kearnyirish2]

Christie hasn’t damaged the Republican Party in NJ; he’s more like the only reason we have one. He has all the right enemies to prove his conservative credentials; I don’t think he is presidential material, but in comparison to the Dem governors we have (and even the last Republican - Whitman), he is a solid conservative. Tax-cutting, pro-life, anti-teachers’ unions...

[2ndDivisionVet]

[Dr. Sivana]

Christie hasn’t damaged the Republican Party in NJ; he’s more like the only reason we have one.

As you live there, I will take your word for it. He is an upgrade over Christine Todd Whitman.

I used to live in CT and was a listener to WABC-AM NYC, and Bob Grant used to harp on Jersey ALL THE TIME. When Florio's toilet paper tax etc. was so unpopular that 3/4s of the state legislature went Republican, the Republicans did NOTHING with their mandate. So Christie doesn't have a lot to work with. Chris Smith is your one star at the Fed level.

In Massachusetts, the legislature is down to something like 19% Republican, with Connecticut not much better. This is a big change from when Reagan won Massachusetts in 1984, and there were still patrotic social conservatives in the Dem party (e.g. John Silber). William Weld Republicans like Romney only appeal to a small cache of voters in Massachusetts who will abandon them if they aren't socially progressive. At some point, things get so far out of whack that you have a little club (like in Philadelphia) that no longer thinks of winning, but only getting a few crumbs off of the tables to make them shut up, with big issues completely ignored.