One result of Chris Christie's decision not to run for president: the door is wide open now for Mitt Romney to get full support from the Republican leadership, from major financial backers, and from everyday voters who are looking for an alternative to the ideology of the far right.
Wealthy Republican donors as well as a handful of elected officials and party activists in key states heavily courted Christie -- a process that picked up momentum after Texas Gov. Rick Perry raised doubts he could unite his party or defeat Obama. While Christie came close to deciding to enter the race during the past several days, there were a number of daunting factors that in the end kept him out of the race:
- Christie would have had to give up his most important attribute – his authenticity. The first term governor has captured the fancy of the political world with his blunt, desk-thumping, tell-it-like it is style, whether he was lecturing public employees on the need for pension cuts or telling foolish vacationers to “get the hell off the beach” before Hurricane Irene struck in August. The governor has spoken out forcefully on issues ranging from abortion and illegal immigration to gun ownership and global warming that are diametrically opposite to what many conservative Republican voters in key early primary states believe. The poor guy would have to shuck and jive so much in explaining his stands that his opponents would waste little time in dubbing him the champion “flip-flopper.”
- The Republican presidential political calendar was hopelessly stacked against him. Every four years the schedule of presidential primaries and caucuses becomes more daunting because of states’ insatiable desire to be among the first to hold elections, and this year is no different. South Carolina this week set its Republican presidential primary for Jan 21 – setting off a chain reaction that likely would push up the nominating process to begin shortly after New Year’s Day – three short months from now.
- Although a lot of big money would have been diverted to a Christie for President Campaign, assembling a national presidential campaign and raising money from ground zero is a daunting notion even for the most experienced of national political figures – which Christie most assuredly is not. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the current GOP frontrunner, literally has been running for president for the past five years, and has the sleekest and most focused organization of all. Should he launch a campaign now, Christie at first would be saddled with a slap-dash campaign organization that would make Newt Gingrich’s much derided campaign staff look like a well-oiled machine. Finally, the excitement among some very wealthy donors urging him to get into race might wane over time, and he would start millions of dollars behind rivals – especially Romney.
- As Texas Gov. Rick Perry clearly demonstrated, it’s often hard to live up to your buildup, and once a high-profile prospective candidate finally jumps into a race, the thrill wears off quickly. And beyond all the yammering about Christie among political analysts and Republican donors, Christie hasn’t really captured the imagination of ranking and file Republicans. A new Washington Post-ABC Poll found that only 42 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents say they would like to see the New Jersey governor join the race. Thirty-four percent said they didn’t want to see him get into the race.
- He just didn’t feel “in his gut” that it was time for him to run. Christie has said so many times that either he wasn’t interested in running for president or didn’t think he was prepared for that awesome task that after a while you have to take the guy at his word. “There has never been a day where I’ve felt I’m over my head, I don’t know what to do, I’m lost,” Christie told the conservative magazine National Review in February. “I don’t know whether IU’d feel the same way if I walked into the Oval Office ayear and a half from now.”
For sure, there were many counter pressures and arguments that had the governor sorely tempted to run – from the entreaties of wealthy business leaders and party leaders to letters from farmers and other ordinary Americans throughout the country. Many people have had it with the entrenched ideologues in both parties. They're like children in a sandbox--"If you won't do it my way, I won't play." Christie's approach to governing is not tangled with pledges to never raise taxes or provide services or systems that are fiscally irresponsible.
The famed tunnel from New Jersey to New York is a perfect example of making a difficult yet decisive call on a project that the state could not afford. In his January 18, 2010 column, David Brooks described the American voter, and in so doing, described Chris Christie: "Over the years, American voters have reacted against any party that threatens that basic sense of proportion. They have reacted against a liberalism that sought an enlarged and corrosive government and a conservatism that threatened to dismantle the government’s supportive role. "
