Posted on 09/25/2011 12:19:46 PM PDT by smoothsailing
Jonathan S. Tobin
September 25, 2011
Speculation about New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has continued this weekend. Rick Perry’s dismal performance in the Florida debate and straw poll are inspiring many Republicans who are dismayed at the idea of Mitt Romney as their standard-bearer next year to beat the drums for Christie. But, as I first wrote last week, the latest Christie boomlet will only further fracture the Republican presidential race, not clarify it.
Even if we assume for the sake of argument Christie will succumb to the blandishments of those imploring him to run, the notion he will be instantly viable is a fantasy. Christie’s entry in the race will provide competition to Romney for center-right voters but none at all for Perry among conservative Christians and Tea Partiers. Indeed, rather than helping to stop the sinking Perry, Christie might do just the opposite. By weakening Romney just when he seemed to be on the rise, he might enable the Texan to survive his current crisis.
As is the case with the various potential saviors for the GOP, all we are hearing about these days are Christie’s strengths, not his weaknesses or the immense difficulties of starting this late without much preparation, a lesson one would think Perry’s example would make abundantly clear.
Christie does bring to the table a considerable reputation as an able executive who vanquished the public employee unions and their Democratic allies. But nobody has explained how a Northeastern governor with stands on both abortion and immigration that pass for conservative in New Jersey but not in most of the rest of the country can possibly compete for the votes of the GOP grass roots against people like Perry or Michele Bachmann. What Christie will do is to make serious inroads on Romney just at the time when he is gaining traction and erasing Perry’s once large lead. Romney’s path to the nomination is based on a belief he will win enough large states like Pennsylvania to offset the advantage his more conservative opponents have in much of the South and West. Christie might make that impossible without being able to win it either.
While possessing enormous political talent and a gift for winning the fights he picks, Christie is unprepared for a run for national office and the intrusive scrutiny that comes with it. Having bridled at the coverage he already gets in Trenton and with a skin every bit as thin as Barack Obama’s without the latter’s cool temperament, it isn’t hard to imagine how badly he will react to the nastiness of life on the presidential campaign trail. The results would be noisy and entertaining but not pretty.
I still believe Christie is too smart to go down a road that is unlikely to bring him the nomination. But if he does, his late entry in the race would be exactly what Perry needs and a terrible blow to Romney.
Christie=Romney+a big mouth.
If Christie runs, he will either have to resign from the governorsip, leaving the head of theNJ Senate to undo all of his hard work, or he will have to perform both jobs, governing and running for president, poorly.
Personally I would vote for Christie over Romney in a minute, he is fearless and will fight for truth, not be smooth and politically correct as Romney is.
Remember this, ObamaCare was modeled using RomneyCare as the benchmark, that is nothing else should get your antennae up.
YES YES YES. Christie is tough on his education union and his budget, but he is a middle of the road liberal Republican as compared to any conservativ e and certainly any well spoken member of the Tea Party.
I love listening to Chris Christie, he has a brilliant wit and is quick on his feet. He does have great credientials on limiting government excess and taking on the unions (really fun to listen to) but his stand on guns will kill any chance he has of the nomination and his support of the Ground Zero Mosque will sink him. Although, I do think he would take Romney down with him, that would be worth the price of admission alone.
Perry could put an end to all of this by just, you know, not sucking.
I am not seeing a huge fan-base for Christie here on FR.
Right now it looks like a Perry/Cain fight for true conservatives.
I agree that Christie would hurt Romney more than Perry.
Like Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, Christie is extremely liberal and will not advance the conservative cause. Tea Party conservatives need to look elsewhere.
I am curious then why Christie went out of his way not to get involved in the states suits against Obamacare? Only GOP Gov to do so.
Look at the Demographics in his state, think strategy and tactics, not full frontal assault. Pretty damned amazing if you ask me the stuff he is getting done in a strongly democratic area.
I am a big Christie fan but all the media speculation is very annoying. He said he isn’t going to run. Period. The conservative media is filled with fools looking for something that isn’t there.
CHRISTIE ~ CAIN 2012
But--Cain is, and since Perry seems to have become the "inarticulator"--I think I'm going with the "Hermanator"--or as one poster here at FR called it--the CAIN MUTINY.
Now that would be a great bumpersticker!
Despite my admiration of Ann Coulter, even her quixotic support of Chris Christie for president has not persuaded me to seriously consider the rotund New Jersey governor as a potential Tea Party candidate in 2012. He may be entertaining at times with his bluntness but he has an inherent abrasiveness that might not be so entertaining when exposed for months on end in a presidential campaign. He is far too ambivalent on the Muslim threat and holds many political positions that Mitt Romney would be comfortable with. Christie is definitely doing a good job as New Jersey governor and should remain there. Perhaps run for the U.S. senate when the next opportunity arises in 2012. We don’t need any more not-really-conservatives entering the overcrowded Republican presidential primary race but one real conservative might fix that. Her name is Sarah Palin.
Christie is a weasel. He is not getting involved in the Obamacare fight because his state stands to take in huge dollars over it.
Cite for me exactly what Christie has done as Gov? NJ is still a financial mess last I checked. Christie has done nothing but generate a bunch of popular You Tube clips, which mysteriously appear out of nowhere. I wonder if his staff has anything to do with that?
Christie might be better than Romney (I’m not sure), but he is very naive about Shariah Law, and we shoudn’t have someone like that in this dangerous world.
If Christie’s entry is exactly what Perry needs, why is a Perry supporter posting an article against Christie’s entry? Gosh golly, could there be some duplicity here? /sarc
I think Christie is a great governor for NJ and he needs to stay there and take care of business.
Christie for President? No, No, a thousand times NO!!
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