To Run For President, Chris Christie Will Have to Get Much Less Moderate …
… or Much More Unpleasant. Neither option is good for him.
BY ISAAC CHOTINER, TNR
With a big win over his Democratic opponent on Tuesday, Chris Christie is sure to enjoy more accolades, and speculation about his plans for higher office. The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza calls Christie “clearly” number 1 in his (Cillizza’s) ranking of likely GOP nominees. (Rand Paul comes in at #2: sorry, but he will not win the GOP primary.) “Chris Christie momentarily stands alone,” The New Republic’s Nate Cohn wrote recently in a smart piece on the New Jersey governor. Democrats (and their fundraisers) seem nervous too: The New York Times reported in its lead story on Tuesday that stifling Christie’s second-term gubernatorial agenda is a top priority for the Party.
If Christie can somehow be considered the front-runner for the 2016 nomination, however, it is only because of a dearth of strong Republican candidates. His political shortcomings are much more acute than people realize. These shortcomings are generally considered to be an abrasive personal style (Cohn: "It’s unclear how Christie’s Jersey Shore demeanor and temperament will play in Iowa or New Hampshire") and skepticism from the GOP base (Cillizza: “The only question for Christie is whether the power center of the party has moved so far toward the tea party that — with his focus on pragmatism over principle and winning over all else — he simply cannot be its choice”). But because Christie needs his abrasiveness to help him with the base, these two issues are likely to become interconnected in any Republican primary, and will probably doom his chances to ascend to the White House even if he becomes the nominee.
Concurrent with all the Christie mania, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s new book, Double Down, has fresh reporting on the Romney campaign’s dismay over unanswered question about Christie’s professional history and medical records. Nothing they report seems necessarily disqualifying for 2016, even if it was for the #2 spot in 2012. Concerns about his health (and worries about his weight more generally) can only be speculated upon. But other revelations in the book are likely to prove more decisive:
(More here.)
BY ISAAC CHOTINER, TNR
With a big win over his Democratic opponent on Tuesday, Chris Christie is sure to enjoy more accolades, and speculation about his plans for higher office. The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza calls Christie “clearly” number 1 in his (Cillizza’s) ranking of likely GOP nominees. (Rand Paul comes in at #2: sorry, but he will not win the GOP primary.) “Chris Christie momentarily stands alone,” The New Republic’s Nate Cohn wrote recently in a smart piece on the New Jersey governor. Democrats (and their fundraisers) seem nervous too: The New York Times reported in its lead story on Tuesday that stifling Christie’s second-term gubernatorial agenda is a top priority for the Party.
If Christie can somehow be considered the front-runner for the 2016 nomination, however, it is only because of a dearth of strong Republican candidates. His political shortcomings are much more acute than people realize. These shortcomings are generally considered to be an abrasive personal style (Cohn: "It’s unclear how Christie’s Jersey Shore demeanor and temperament will play in Iowa or New Hampshire") and skepticism from the GOP base (Cillizza: “The only question for Christie is whether the power center of the party has moved so far toward the tea party that — with his focus on pragmatism over principle and winning over all else — he simply cannot be its choice”). But because Christie needs his abrasiveness to help him with the base, these two issues are likely to become interconnected in any Republican primary, and will probably doom his chances to ascend to the White House even if he becomes the nominee.
Concurrent with all the Christie mania, Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s new book, Double Down, has fresh reporting on the Romney campaign’s dismay over unanswered question about Christie’s professional history and medical records. Nothing they report seems necessarily disqualifying for 2016, even if it was for the #2 spot in 2012. Concerns about his health (and worries about his weight more generally) can only be speculated upon. But other revelations in the book are likely to prove more decisive:
(More here.)
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