"I can’t resist a basketball analogy: we are in the 4th quarter, we’re up by a few points, but the other side is coming strong and they play a little dirty. We’ve got a few folks on our team in foul trouble. We’ve got a couple of injuries. And I believe that they’ve got one last run in them, and I’d say there’s about seven minutes to go in the game. And Michael’s competitiveness is legendary, and nobody knows better than Michael that if you’ve got a little bit of lead and there’s about seven minutes to go, that’s when you put them away. That’s when you stop any momentum they have. You don’t let them up from the mat. You don’t give them any hope that they might pull this out. You don’t leave it to a lucky shot they might make from half-court at the end. You go ahead and you pour it on. You might press them a little bit. You might put Pippen and Jordan on the front court, trap them a little bit; have Horace come in. You don’t let up. That’s how the Bulls won six. That’s how we’re going to win this election."
— President Obama in New York last night at his “Obama Classic” fund-raiser.
F.A.Q.: Why is Chris Christie fit to be keynote speaker but not running mate?
A conversation with Star-Ledger editorial page editor and columnist Tom Moran about Republican National Convention keynote speaker Chris Christie.
Josh: Do you think the Romney campaign ever gave serious consideration to Chris Christie as a running mate?
Tom: Yes. Christie is the party’s most effective salesman, and he has worked hard to build a national following. And he’s especially good in informal settings, which happen a lot during campaigns. He also has proven successful with independent voters, who will ultimately decide the presidential election. He has big drawbacks, yes, but I’m sure they considered him seriously.
Josh: What do you think those drawbacks were, from Romney’s perspective?
Tom: Christie speaks directly, from the gut, which is central to his appeal. But it also makes him dangerous. In one recent incident on the boardwalk, he was recorded taunting a critic, almost as if he wanted to fight. He insulted a Navy Seal veteran at another event. You can get away with that in New Jersey, but it could be costly in a national campaign. Also, Christie has thin experience, just half of one term as governor. He said himself that he’s not prepared to be president, a statement Democrats would highlight. I wonder, too, if his weight was an issue.
Who should play against Obama during the president’s basketball game fund-raiser?
Let us know what you think. Howard Megdal has his own suggestions…
Obama goes to the Apollo, and Harlem will hear about the G.O.P. debate in North Charleston, too by Reid Pillifant
A GUIDE TO SOUTH CAROLINA BBQ AND THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY
South Carolina is divided into three parts, demarcated by recipes for pulled-pork barbecue: the vinegar-and-pepper sauce region, tomato-based concoction section, and the mustard belt.
According to Andrew Rice at Capital New York, this tribal geography supersedes race, religion, maybe even college football—and it also happens to coincide rather closely with the divisions of the Republican electorate (and explains why Romney is likely to win).
It’s starting to feel like there’s a new Hamlet on the Hudson, but this time he’s on the New Jersey side of the river. - Steve Kornacki
Did you miss Capital New York’s Josh Benson on NY1’s “Inside City Hall” reporters’ roundtable on Friday? It’s cool, you can watch him talk about the city being run by “remote control” and Chris Christie as a possible presidential candidate for 2012 here.
JUST AS THE INTEREST PERRY HAS AROUSED AMONG members of New York’s conservative money set says something about his ability to talk to city-dwelling rich people when he has to, it also says something about where these rich people’s heads are that they’re apparently so eager to hear Perry out.
For one thing, New York conservatism may not be all that different anymore from the brand practiced in places like Texas. The New York Republicans are no longer a party that nominates people like the inoffensive former congressman Rick Lazio to run for governor; they nominate people like Carl Paladino, who campaigned with a baseball bat.
"Let me say this: As an American, I really feel embarrassed that the world is seeing who we are entertaining for president and leader of the free world. I really think that the high standards that have been expected of America was shattered for those people who didn’t look at them as Republicans, but looked at them as candidates to be not only our leader, but the symbol of justice and fairness all over the world."
— Charlie Rangel on the Obama speech and being “embarrassed” by 2012 Republicans
