Obama and Christie on the cover, around the world
Is this why Romney was scared of picking Chris Christie?
A conversation with Salon political writer and MSNBC co-host Steve Kornacki about Governor Chris Christie’s political footwork.
Josh: What do you make of this explanation of why Chris Christie “declined to run for vice president”? The news is ostensibly that he doubted Romney would win and didn’t want to give up being governor for the privilege of running on what he figures is a losing ticket. But of course it also serves as a public reinforcement of the idea that the person who made the choice about whether Chris Christie would be Romney’s running mate was no one other than Chris Christie.
Steve: It basically illustrates why Romney didn’t want him, right? He’s not, and wouldn’t have been as a running mate, a team player.
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.
Chris Christie on the Star-Ledger’s front page today. Yikes.
The New Jersey governor has scheduled a press conference for 1pm. Is he in or out? Start taking wagers now…
(Source: dcdecoder, via brooklynmutt)
Great read analysis of Christie’s options.
So it’s hard to see a White House bid amounting to anything but an all-or-nothing risk for Christie. Run and he’ll be pilloried by his home-state foes for skipping out on his job halfway through his first term, and for going back on a year’s worth of adamant, over-the-top denials. Plus, as a national G.O.P. candidate, he’ll presumably be pulled far to the right, further alienating him from the swing voters he depends on in his home state.
Did you miss Capital New York’s Reid Pillifant on NY1’s “Inside City Hall” Reporters’ Roundtable? You can watch it here. Reid and his colleagues discuss Mayor Bloomberg coattails in the 2012 mayoral race and the Chris Christie “will he or won’t he?” game.
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
"Christie privately lambasted Bloomberg as ‘Napoleon,’ ‘a dictator’ and ‘a putz’” for not inviting the NJ governor of 2001 to the 10th anniversary."
— Josh Margolin and Bob Fredericks / New York Post (via azipaybarah)
Who’s that big, Islamophobe-denouncing softie disguised as Chris Christie? by Steve Kornacki
So he has committed himself to threading a very difficult needle, appeasing New Jersey’s left-of-center swing voters in order to survive in 2013 without doing serious damage to the image that has made him a hero to national Republicans and a future White House prospect.
In this context, his defense of Sohail Mohammed is something approaching a political masterstroke.
"It’s suddenly imperative for Sweeney to create distance between himself and Christie, to prove to skeptical Democrats that he shares their values and is willing to fight for them against the Republican governor. It’s notable that just a few days before his outburst to Moran, Sweeney seemingly out of nowhere declared that his refusal to vote for gay marriage in 2009 had been his biggest mistake as a legislator. This came as the benefits bill was moving toward passage. It was like real-time contrition, as if Sweeney realized that his problems with the base were starting to add up and had decided to course-correct on the spot."
— Steve Kornacki on Stephen “rotten prick” Sweeney at Capital New York
Chris Christie makes a desperate bet on Atlantic City | by Mitchell Blumenthal | Capital New York
Chris Christie’s plan to save Atlantic City, unlike much he has proposed in the course of becoming a national political force, is not particularly conservative. It is also not gratuitously provocative, and does not lend itself to YouTube virality.
What it is—like every other Atlantic City scheme to have come out of the New Jersey Statehouse in the last few years—is an idea born of desperation and necessity.
Mitchell Blumenthal, who was an editor at the New York Times for more than 20 years, writes for Capital New York about Chris Christie’s impending Carl Paladino moment.
