Chris Christie a No Go

Chris Christie, the alliterative governor from New Jersey, has been fingered for a possible Presidential run since very early in the primary campaign season. However, he has been turning down invitations, and most recently, a number of impassioned pleas by republican voters, for him to enter the Republican primary. At a recent speech at the Reagan Library in California, Christie turned down his most avid fans as they asked the straight-talking governor to run for President. "I mean this with all my heart," a woman gushed, "Please, sir, reconsider. Go home and really think about it. Please. Do it for my daughter, do it for our grandchildren, do it for our sons. Please, sir, your country needs you to run for president." Christie attempted to deflect these kinds of requests, even directing supporters to a recent POLITICO video montage of his various refusals to enter the campaign. However, with this particular woman's heart-felt plea, he acknowledged her feelings... but that time, he didn't say no.

Many of his supporters are looking at that last response, to a woman that asked for him to "do it for his country," as a sliver of hope that Christie will actually run. Of course, Christie is going to be coy about his chances. He's not an ideologue, making his brand of rhetoric a trademark for straight talk. He's also not a bow-dried candidate like Mitt Romney or Rick Perry. He's a heavy-set guy with a self-deprecating streak. These two qualities make him very different than the rest of the GOP field, a group of candidates that have yet to really mobilize the Republican base, or even sustain a lead in the polls. So far the Republican primary has been a series of fireworks, exploding in the polls before sliding back into more modest numbers. However, with so many conservative voters looking for a transformative candidate the likes of Obama's 2008 campaign for Democrats and liberals, Chris Christie seems like the next "great white hope".

Christie understands his ground swell of support, and even though the timeframe for him to enter is coming down to a couple of weeks, he could still enter the race, despite his refusals, and take no real political damage. In addition, building the support now, even if he does not run this year, bodes well for his political chances down the road. This is particularly true if he continues to downplay the "ego" required to run for president, a quality that he says is not becoming of himself.

New Jersey has taken some tough actions to balance their fiscal outlook, and Christie has a reputation for making tough decisions and saying tough-minded things. One of his more recent public statements to get attention was when he famously told his constituents to, "get the hell off the beach," just before Hurricane Irene hit the Jersey shore. He doesn't fit the Republican establishment on issues like climate change and immigration, but that might be exactly what his Republican supporters want.