Gotta disagree you you here. He was good at putting a finger in the wind, attention, and eating doughnuts. He lacked one thing, a conservative weltanschauung and the fortitude to carry it out. He failed.
I've had this theory that Christie would have preferred not to run for a second term in 2013 anyway -- and that he was lining himself up as the AG nominee if Romney had won in 2012.