Free Republic

Last August before a closed meeting of Republican leaders in Boston, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey said, "We are not a debating society. We are a political operation that needs to win." Tuesday night, Christie won. Big time. In one of the nation's bluest states, Christie got 60.5 percent of the vote. His Democratic opponent, Barbara Buono, claims she lost because "Democratic political bosses" made a deal with Christie "despite him representing almost everything they're against. ... They did it to help themselves politically and financially." In other words, they voted out of self-interest. Imagine that. Self-interest in politics....

A big win in a big blue state — there are few things that make sweeter music for the fractured Republican Party these days. But many political observers say there is even more to what happened tonight than that. Last year, Chris Christie was elected chairman of the Republican Governors Association and he officially takes over that post in Arizona in 15 days. It’s a position with a high national profile, money to spread around and a bully pulpit. So, in way, Christie’s power just doubled. Friends of Christie and people who have watched him in action the past year...

In his whole re-election campaign, Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) has invited only one sitting out-of-state officeholder to campaign with him: New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez (R), who joined Christie at eight campaign events Monday, including a rally in heavily Hispanic Union City. In many ways, Martinez is the perfect complement to Christie, amplifying his strengths as a politician. She is relatively young (54) and a moderate who maintains strong popularity in a blue state. She has worked closely with a legislature held by Democrats and bucked her party by taking the Medicaid expansion in Obamacare. Perhaps most importantly, she's almost...

Tuesday night and again Wednesday morning, NBC's Chuck Todd reported that New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie refused to campaign for Ken Cuccinelli, the Virginia Republican who narrowly lost his own governor's race to Democrat Terry McAuliffe. "They begged Christie, and you can make an argument," Todd said on Morning Joe. "That to bring a Chris Christie to Northern Virginia might have helped. But Chris Christie is worried about his own brand."

Arnold Schwarzenegger won re-election handily in 2006, defeating his hapless opponent Phil Angelides by a 56% to 38.9% margin. Yet this sizable win was a meaningless victory for the GOP. Similarly, Chris Christie’s thumping victory on Tuesday night over an equally forgettable candidate contains almost no national meaning, save that Chris Christie is good for Chris Christie. Like Schwarzenegger, Christie cruised to re-election not as a real Republican but as a preening non-partisan moderate. Like Schwarzenegger, Christie’s popularity hasn’t translated into any support for Republicans in his own legislature.Which raises the question: How could Christie turn blue states red nationwide...

New Jersey governor Chris Christie, a Republican, is on his way to winning big in his bid for reelection Tuesday, and there's already talk he may be on his way to running for president in three years. Speaking to CNN's Jake Tapper, Christie argued he's not a moderate as he's sometimes portrayed. "I'm a conservative," Christie told Tapper. "I've governed as a conservative in this state, and I think that's led to some people disagreeing with me in our state, because it's generally a left-of-center, blue state."

"......“I said this to the RNC last summer,” Christie said aboard his bus later that day, referring to the Republican National Committee, “I’m in this to win, because if you don’t win, you can’t govern. If you can’t govern, you can’t move the country, the state, the city — whatever you’re running for — in the direction it needs to be moved in. I think we’ve had too many people [in the Republican Party] who’ve become less interested in winning an election and more interested in winning an argument.” Tuesday’s gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia will highlight both...

One day far into the future, the image may stand alone from its catastrophic backdrop and be remembered just as much for having captured two U.S. presidents’ handshake. That's a historical narrative Gov. Chris Christie and many of his political supporters have dreamed about since last October, when days after Sandy made landfall he and President Barack Obama met on a tarmac at Atlantic City Airport. The photo will likely reappear many times in 2016, when as is widely expected, Christie will seek the Republican nomination for president. Political observers believe it could very well be used both for and...