A new Monmouth University poll shows that Governor Chris Christie’s popularity in the Garden State is plummeting, but more importantly, he won’t be any help as a vice-presidential candidate.
“When New Jerseyans are asked who would make a better president – Chris Christie or Hillary Clinton, Clinton gets the nod from 58%, with 32% choosing the Garden State governor.”
While Christie might be of more help in some other blue states that are less intimately familiar with his antics, there’s no evidence that he’s got the kind of moderate or regional cred a more conservative presidential candidate might want from a running mate.
And getting on the ticket is really the name of Christie’s game, because there is no way in hell that he can win the nomination outright and he has no other political future once he completes his second term in Drumthwacket.
Chris Christie’s not too bright, never mind his future.
I can’t think of any blue state that Christie would help in, except may PA.
There are several pink/grey states that I could think of where Christie could help shore up some moderate rightwing support: NC, WI, WV, CO come to mind.
But for a Republican, if you need help in Pink/Grey states, your ass is grass anyway.
His poll numbers are not good in PA either.
More importantly, as Romney discovered, there are too many potential scandals. Imagine, just to pick one from this week, defending the claim that it was legal to accept a $30,000 gift to his family from the King of Jordan because he is a personal friend. There’s two days of the fall campaign lost alone, and New Jersey will provide an infinite supply of similar problems.
The pension mess. This always seemed a deal-breaker. Christie broke the code; he got caught, the arrogant clown.
Actually, I think his antics are pretty well-known nationally. Bridgegate and imprisoning the nurse in an unheated tent to subsist on KFC were headlines everywhere. And once the oppo pushes some of the less nationally prominent stories, he’s charcoal.
If a DEM or GOP ticket can’t easily carry one of the home states of the POTUS and VP nominees and carry or get exceedingly close to carrying the other home state, it’s going to lose if not all the time, then 99% of the time.
Christie at the top or bottom of the GOP ticket simply isn’t going to turn NJ blue. Nor in that capacity does he further GOP ambitions for a subsequent election.
OTOH, the GOP is currently too short in too many needed states to have the luxury of choosing a home states’ slam dunk ticket such as McCain/Palin.