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Gov. Chris Christie’s trips to NFL games to root for the Dallas Cowboys were paid for by the team’s owner, Jerry Jones, according to the governor’s office. Images of Christie celebrating with Jones Sunday evening following the Cowboys’ latest win created a stir among sports fans on social media. Christie has now attended three games at the invitation of Jones, who invited the governor and picked up the tab, said Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts. “Governor Christie attended the game last night as a guest of Jerry Jones, who provided both the ticket and transportation at no expense to New Jersey...

New Jersey governor Chris Christie has landed himself in hot water after he was caught enthusiastically celebrating a victory for the Dallas Cowboys. Christie was filmed hugging Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones and his son Stephen in a garish orange sweater after Dallas defeated Detroit Lions in a match yesterday. A native of New Jersey, Christie follows the Cowboys despite his team having a long-standing rivalry with the New York Giants in his own state as they play in the same NFL conference every year. He also cheers for the Cowboys ahead of his state's other NFL team, the New York...

A flock of 2016 presidential hopefuls will be attending a major GOP event in Iowa this month co-sponsored by anti-immigrant gadfly Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has made outreach to minorities part of his appeal, won’t go. His office says there is a scheduling conflict. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush also begged off. What to make of all this? (SNIP) He is no David Duke, but his distasteful and flamboyant attacks on illegal immigrants are well known. (SNIP) New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie headlined a fundraiser for King and reportedly announced, “I will be a supporter...

Gov. Chris Christie has called on President Barack Obama to demand that Cuba return a woman convicted of killing a New Jersey State Police officer in 1973 before the United States moves forward with a plan to restore diplomatic relations with the communist nation. The Republican governor wrote in a letter to Obama that he profoundly disagrees with the decision announced last week to re-establish diplomatic ties with Cuba, saying he does not share the view that taking that step "without a clear commitment from the Cuban government of the steps they will take to reverse decades of human rights...

I asked this on Twitter and naturally 50 people instantly responded “SMOD.” Sorry, we’re not that lucky. With Jeb in the race, Christie very likely to get in, and Romney and Rubio now likely to pass, the field of loud-and-proud centrists appears to be set at two. And since the donor class loves centrists and the donor class tends to get its way in presidential primaries, that means one of these two guys is likely to be nominee. If it comes to that, whom do you prefer? And before you say “I’ll stay home,” let me note: (1) conservatives say...

Chris Christie sparks social media firestorm for sitting with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones during Eagles' loss(full title)New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Dallas Cowboys fan, sat with team owner Jerry Jones during the Dallas Cowboys' 38-27 victory over the Eagles on Sunday night — and the political lightning rod sparked a Twitter blaze.

The approval comes one year after Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill into law allowing certain undocumented immigrants to pay in-state college tuition rates. In 2013, Christie and Democratic leaders reached a compromise to remove a clause in the bill that also would have offered the same undocumented immigrants state aid to help pay for their higher education.“We have the opportunity to allow all children in this state now to go to college and to go to college in an affordable manner. It provides opportunity and it makes New Jersey the kind of place that all of us want to...

One report has been derided by critics of Gov. Chris Christie as a whitewash; his defenders see the other as a partisan smear-job against the governor. But both a new interim report for a legislative committee investigating the politically motivated lane closures last year near the George Washington Bridge and one commissioned by the governor’s office and released in March reach a similar conclusion: There is no evidence that Christie participated in the scheme or knew about it as it happened. They also share a shortcoming: Neither group of investigators had access to some witnesses who may be able to...

If Governor Christie does decide to run for president, he’s already locked up one of the most prolific fundraisers in Republican presidential politics.  Ken Langone, 79, is the billionaire founder of Home Depot whose willingness to back Christie for president not only creates the possibility of millions of dollars in donations but also the potential to block possible rivals by keeping them from adding this powerful ally.  “I’ll do everything I can do to help get him elected,” Langone said in a recent interview. “Whatever he asks me to do, I’ll do. I’m particularly good at fundraising, so I suspect...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced a pair of unusual appointments on Tuesday, adding two prominent Democrats to the governing body of Rutgers University, including a former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Christie added both Susan McCue, Reid's former top aide, and Mark Angelson, a former deputy mayor in Chicago under Mayor Rahm Emanuel, to the Rutgers Board of Governors. Neither of them currently lives in New Jersey; both are graduates of the university. The McCue appointment is particularly intriguing as she worked for a super PAC that spent millions to try to keep New Jersey's...

New Jersey’s openly gay state assemblyman, who was called “numbnuts” [1] in 2012 by Gov. Chris Christie (R), thinks he can do what Christie has never been able to do, numb or not: get New Jerseyans to stay in New Jersey.Assemblyman Reed Gusciora’s (D) solution is astoundingly simple. He wants to offer state home and business owners the opportunity to slash their property taxes by 25 percent.The New Jersey Legislature would then be tasked with figuring out how to make up the difference through budget cuts.The best Christie has been able to offer is a cap on future property...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill Friday that would have banned crates that severely limit the mobility of pregnant pigs, a move that will win favor with Iowa farmers and spark more speculation about Christie's presidential aspirations but cause outrage among animal rights activists who pushed for the ban. Critics consider the small metal crates a form of animal cruelty -- the pigs aren't able to turn around in the limited space -- but advocates say they prevent sows from accidentally lying down or stepping on piglets. Despite its strong bipartisan support in the state legislature, the Republican...

On immigration, the GOP primary will have little room for nuance Obama's announcement could affect 2016's probable candidates President Obama on thursday announced his much-anticipated executive action on immigration, and in doing so he lobbed a grenade squarely into the 2016 Republican primary race. ... Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush upset the rank and file earlier this year by calling for a compassionate aspproach to immigration. In April, he said undocumented workers who enter the country illegally do so as "an act of love" because they "are actually coming to this country to provide for their families." Then there's New...

Chris Christie took a well-deserved victory lap this week at the annual meeting of the Republican Governor’s Association, basking in the glow of a midterm victory that capped off a highly successful year for him as chairman of the group. The New Jersey governor’s formidable fundraising skills played a significant role in the GOP’s victories around the country, including in blue states such as Maryland and Massachusetts. But, as Politico notes, Christie wasn’t getting much love, in terms of his 2016 prospects, from the candidates he helped. That’s not terribly surprising given the plethora of potential candidates, including a bevy...

In New Jersey, a moral drama is unfolding. Governor Chris Christie has presidential ambitions. He'd like to be as popular as possible with Republicans voters in important primary states like New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina. He'd also like to do the right thing—or at least be seen as doing the right thing—when a piece of legislation crosses his desk, demanding a signature or veto. And those desires are now in conflict. There's an animal-welfare bill on his desk. Its premise is that slaughtering pigs to be consumed as carnitas or prosciutto or bacon or ham hocks is fine (if...

The New Jersey Assembly today passed a bill to legalize assisted suicide and it will now send the measure to Governor Chris Christie, who has promised to veto it.After impassioned speeches on both sides of the debate, the New Jersey Assembly passed the bill on a 41-31 vote. Since the legislation already had the approval of the state Senate, it now heads to the governor.Just days after Brittany MaynardÂ’s assisted suicide launched a national debate on the ethics of the controversial practice, the New Jersey Assembly became the first state to attempt to join others which have approved it. Marie...

Former two-term gubernatorial candidate and Congressman Tom Tancredo is forming a political action committee to “stop Chris Christie” from getting the GOP nod for president in 2016. (SNIP) “I have never liked the guy… [B]ecause he was concerned that I would, in fact, go against the [United States] Chamber of Commerce position on immigration and make it a big deal, and I might win, he chose to … spend a quarter of a million dollars of Republican money…to attack me, here, in Colorado. And launder the money through Attorneys General Association.”

Anyone arriving in California from an Ebola-affected area and who has had personal contact with a person infected with the deadly virus will be quarantined for 21 days, according to an order issued Wednesday by the state's public health director. The order provides a more nuanced set of guidelines to assess the risk associated with people returning from regions afflicted by an Ebola outbreak -- currently Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea -- than the controversial blanket quarantines in New Jersey, New York and Maine.

Even though Amber Vinson has been declared Ebola-free, and has left Emory University Hospital, if this nation is to quarantine those (be they symptomatic or asymptomatic) who came into contact with someone like Thomas Duncan, then should those who have come into contact with Amber Vinson (be it on day 1 to the day she left the hospital) be quarantined? If Kaci Hickox is "obviously ill," per Chris Christie, then she would obviously be symptomatic according to Chris Christie. If she is symptomatic, then Chris Christie would not only have to quarantine her, but anyone who came into contact with...

Maybe a better question is, “Do Scott Walker’s allies want Republicans to think Chris Christie’s trying to tank his reelection bid?”Christie’s the head of the Republican Governors Association this year, which serves the same purpose for GOP governors as the NRSC and NRCC do for Senate and House candidates. He barnstorms the country, raises tons of money for the RGA, and then the RGA distributes that money to Republican governors who are stuck in tight races with Democrats. Walker’s race is as tight as it gets, much tighter than anyone expected: He’s just 0.2 points ahead of Democrat Mary Burke right now...