Ken Berwitz
Is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie presidential material? Can he compete against a possible Hillary Clinton (or Joe Biden) candidacy?
What does he have to sell? His record as Governor, while not terrible, is no great shakes either. Jersey has high taxes and is not exactly leading the way on job creation. While it is true that Mr. Christie\’s predecessor, Jon Corzine (why isn\’t he in jail?) left him a mess, that was 6 years ago. At some point the incumbent has to take ownership of his situation.
It would appear that, in Christie\’s mind, if his record as Governor isn\’t going to do the trick, then the next best thing is to show some – ok, a lot of – Jersey attitude. That is what he did against Marco Rubio in Saturday\’s debate, and that is what he is touting now – as demonstrated by what he said to a New Hampshire crowd yesterday:
“Through a lot of these earlier debates, the media wassaying to me, Gov. Christie, when are you going to challenge somebody? When arewe going to see the Gov. Christie of old? When are you going to engage withDonald Trump? When are you going to engage with Marco Rubio? When are you goingto engage with Ted Cruz ?
“And I told them, I\’m going to engage in a time and place ofmy choosing, not before, not when the media wants to. And so I decided toengage last night, and how do you think it went?”
Will this kind of bluster – which makes Governor Christie come across as sort of a poor man\’s Donald Trump – propel him forward in tomorrow\’s New Hampshire primary? Given that he has the endorsement of the Manchester Union-Leader, the state\’s most influential newspaper, the answer better be yes. Because without a strong showing here, his campaign is borderline moribund.
Stay tuned…..
