Chris Christie Shoring Up His Value as a Vice Presidential Running Mate

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Kempite
Bookmark and Share    In advance of the delivery of his second State of the State address, New Jersey’s Governor Chris Christie’s team has released a new web ad that credits him for having begun to turn the Garden State around.

It’s the type of stuff, that fits in well with any campaign’s desire to tap in to a similar theme for the nation and its economy, which much like New Jersey, is in desperate need of a comeback.  This is not to say that the ad is meant to establish the groundwork for a Chris Christie vice presidency.  Afterall, regardless of national politics, Chris Christie does need to make sure that his image in New Jersey remains one that will be worthy of reelection come 2013.

Either way, the web ad helps promote an image of Christie that can’t hurt either his chances for being picked as a vice presidential running mate or for eventually being reelected Governor.

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Which Republican’s Record Can Hold Up Under Fire?

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Kempite

Is Any Candidate Perfect?

Bookmark and Share Even though he has stated he is not running, and even though some polls have still had Chris Christie considered a favorite for the Republican presidential nomination, not all Republicans are gaga for the New Jersey Governor. While his stand against unions and perceived “take no crap” approach to budget matters have made him a popular prospect for many it must be pointed out that even his rising star could be tarnished.

I recently had an enjoyable exchange with Rick Trader, the producer of a talk radio show called Conservative Commandos. With a name like that, you can understand that it is probably not for the politically faint of heart or middle of the road types. In this exchange Mr. Trader offered to me his opinion of Chris Christie. Now to be perfectly clear, I am of the opinion that while Governor Christie is probably the most conservative candidates that New Jersey can currently elect on a statewide level, and that his fiscal approach to state government deserves credit especially on a relative basis, I have not been one of those who believes he is the best that the G.O.P. can elect on a national level.Andneither is Rick Trader. I have four favorites which I am looking at for the nomination and the New Jersey Governor is not one of them. But I do not mind him governing the Garden State that I currently call home. On that level, Chris Christie is almost Reaganesquewhen compared to the likes of Jon Corzineand Jim McGreevey.

However Rick Trader points out that Chris Christie may not be all that real Republicans think he is cracked up to be.

Keepin mind that while there are two sides to every story in a campaign, it is easier, less time consuming and less expensive to bring up accusations than it is to respond and clarify them. With that understood, Rick Trader demonstrates that there is enough fuel to set a fire around a Christie candidacy if he were to jump in to the fray of the Republican presidential nominating process.

Mr. Trader has created the following list of reasonstthat,hesclaims Make Chris Christie a Blue Rino”.

  • He said it is not a crime to be in this country illegally.
  • Supports regional greenhouse gas initiative which is a cap-and-trade……we are already paying in New Jersey.
  • Made Paula Dow, a liberal lawyer, Attorney General.
  • His original choice to head Family Services worked with a group that advocated sex with children. (he eventually had to pull the nomination when her record got out)
  • Supports the idea of mankind causing global warming.
  • Is making taxpayers pay his staff millions more than Jon Corzine did.
  • Refuses to join the lawsuit to stop Obamacare.
  • Has no problem with a mosque at Ground Zero.
  • Refuses to end Sanctuary Cities in New Jersey.
  • Supported Mike Castle in the Delaware Senate race against Christine ODonnell
  • Is against American drilling for oil offshore.
  • Is spending millions of dollars of borrowed money on a worthless windmill scam.
  • The Joan Rivitzappointment to the Commission On Civil Rights shows that his stand against same-sex marriage was just campaign rhetoric. If Christie truly opposed same-sex marriage, he would not be appointing an advocate of same-sex marriage to a key position in his administration.
  • He is for I his words. “some gun control
  • Before he decided to run for Governor, he personally donated money to Planned Parenthood.
  • Appointed Christopher Cerf, a registered Democrat, As the Commissioner of Education. A teacher-turned-lawyer who was an associate counsel for Pres. Bill Clinton
  • And what did Chris Christie say about being in Florida during the blizzard, while we were stuck in the snow?
    “I wouldn’t change the decision even if I could do it right now,” Christie said. “I had a great five days with my children (in Florida). I promised that.”
  • SohailMohammed of Clifton is one of Chris Christie’snominations for a Superior Court judgeship is a lawyer who represented many detainees and suspected terrorists swept up by the government in the post-9/11 dragnet. And is on the boards of radical Muslim Groups.
  • Governor Christie attended the formal White House State Dinner for Chinese President Hu Jintao. Interestingly Republican leadership asked all Republicans not to attend.
  • At a time when cities like Camden NJ has to fire half its police force, and at a time when thee state is 8 billion dollars in debt, Governor Christie is dumping 30 million taxpayer dollars into a failed race track!
  • New Jersey is billions in debt and Christie is bailing out the casinos! Giving them 260 million dollars of your tax money!!! Is this the actions of a conservative???
  • Chris Christie pulled the plug on a project to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility 16 miles off the New Jersey coast, that would have produced up to 14,000 jobs in New Jersey and lowered energy costs!

Now, while there are some points made here which can be debated and are open to legitimately different interpretations, others aren’t and anyone of them can be exploited againstthe Governor in a primary.And alltogether, they present an extremelycompelling case for a fellow Republican to build against Christie if he were to run against them for them presidential nomination. Heck, I consider myself a conservative Republicanand a Christie supporter, and after going through Rick Trader’s list, even I look at Chris Christie differently now.

To be sure, while the specific points presented by Rick Trader in referenceto Chris Christiemay not be applicable to other Republican presidential contenders, the same approach to tearing a candidatescredentials apart, applies to all of them. In other words, no candidate will be perfect, no candidate will be free from a controversial stance and no candidate will not have a record that can not be attacked with a certain amount of success.

So while we may all have favorites right now, let us not as a Party, jump to any one candidate too early. Allow the process to produce the strongestcandidate possible and let us not look for any knights in shinning in armor like some have done with Chris Christie. Because there really aren’t any. And not just on the G.O.P. side.

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Christie-Walker 2012?

Posted on February 22, 2011 by Kempite
Bookmark and Share Okay. So I have to tell you right off the bat, I am not serious. As a New Jerseyan, I am so far surprisingly happy with Chris Christie, but he still has to see much of his groundwork through to prove himself. And although I like Sctt Walker, I would like to see the guy govern for at least a year before we run him national office.But both of these men have struck at the heart of the fiscal problems that confront their states and the nation as well. They have touched the third rails of entitlement programs that no one before them has had the guts to address. And they are saying to unions what few before them have said so flatly ..no.

Will the big union protests hurt or help the G.O.P. in 2012? Take the WH2012 Poll

As such, the two men have become hated, but it is clear that so far, more voters like them than dislike them. Those who consider themselves union members first, dislike Christie and Walker.But those who consider themselves taxpayers first, like them. With the tax system we currently have in America, it is sometimes hard to say whether there are more taxpayers than union members or vise versa. But at the moment there are some union members who realize that they are both members of a union and taxpayers. These people understand that you can not keep robbing from Peter to give to Paul.

Governor Scott Walker

These people understand that while their union brothers and sisters are red with anger, their states are drowning in red ink. And it is these same people who understand that Scott Walker and Chris Christie are doing what they were elected to do. Indeed a few thousand Republicans all across America in local, county state and federa offices were recently elected with a similar mandate behind them in 2010. In 2006 and 2008 many Republicans were booted out of officebecause they had previously forgotten that message. But now here we are with two men who are leading the way in doing something that should have been done long ago .. Saying no to big unions and special interests.

Governor Chris Christie

Doing this doesnt really make Walker or Christie special. It doesnt make them those once in a generation leaders that we always look for. It just makes them commonsense leaders. And that is really quite sad. It is sad that we have come to a point in time when common sense in our leaders is so rare that we are ready to quickly throw their names about for offices as revered as President of the United States. Yet some recent polls have had Republicans claiming that Chris Christie was their first choice for the Republican presidential nomination. Now I am not saying that Christie or Walker are not capable, but they are not yet proven. The last time we selected an unproven leader, we got freshman Senator Barack Obama for President.And Walker and Christie are also not alone in this newfound commonsense leadership. Rick Scott of Florida shares in it. Bob McMillan of Virginia shares it. Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Eric Cantor of Virginia as well as Justin Amash of Michigan, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Marco Rubio, Scott Garrett and a whole host of congressmen and senators and state legislators share this same respect for basic math and commonsense.

So let us not rush to coronate any one person King or Queen of the G.O.P. Let the Chrsities and Walkers and Scotts of our Party lead. Let them prove that commonsense has a place in government and let us allow the Republican presidential nomination process to be a real contest. Let it be a real proving ground where we can kick the tires, test drive our leaders and make them earn our trust, our support, our votes. Let them prove themselves before we jump on any of their bandwagons.

In the meantime. Heres to Chris Christie and Scott Walker! Keep up the good work and remember, as demonstrated in the picture below of teachers protestingin NewJerseynot long ago, those trying to shout you down, are not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed. And another thing, the people of yesterday that Richard Nixon once called the Silent Majority are today called the TEA Party, and weve got your back.

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Big Deal In Georgia. Governor Endorses Gingrich for President

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Kempite
Bookmark and Share The Atlanta Journal Constitution recently reported that Newt Gingrich has essentially made his decision to run for the Republican presidential nomination and is already eyeing Atlanta office space to stake out as his campaign headquarters.

Now the AJC writes that in answering a reporters question about Gingrich, Georgias new governor, Nathan Deal, declared that he will support Newt Gingrich for president if he runs.

According to Political Insider reporter Jim Galloway, the exchange went like this:

Reports from Republicans weve talked to say Gingrich is much further along in his decision-making process than he lets on. In any case, Governor, will you support Gingrich if he runs for president in 12?

Deals response was; I will,.

Prior to that answer, Governor Deal said of Gingrich;

Hes, of course, a long-time friend and a supporter of my efforts to become governor of this state. Its no secret he is taking exploratory actions to determine whether or not hes going to pursue the presidency of the United States and we talked briefly about that. I dont think hes made that decision. He indicated hes still in the deciding process.

Former Speaker of the House represented Georgia in his days in Congress and has strong roots their. He has recently been meeting many of the states most powerful Republicans, including Governor Deal. In 2010, Gingrich pulled out all the stops to help Deal win his race for Governor. Now it looks like pay back time is approaching.

A similar story is playing out in the Northeast where New Jersey Governor Chris Christie recently met for dinner with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in Drumthwacket, New Jerseys governor mansion. In 2009 Romney endorsed Christie in his primary for the Garden States Republican gubernatorial nomination. On top of the favor owed to Romney, the two share more than a few things in common. One thing they share is their former state campaign chairman. That was a position which State Senator Joe Kyrillos held for Romneys presidential campaign in 2008 and for Christies gubernatorial race in 2009.

Earlier in the day, a “Political Playbook” forum sponsored by Politico and aired on C-Span, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made an endorsement of his own kind when he praised South Dakota Senator John Thune and calimed that he has urged him to run for President.

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Is Chris Christie Preparing to Endorse Mitt Romney for President?

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Kempite
Bookmark and Share New Jersey Governor Chris Christie hosted a Monday evening dinner meeting with a mix of advisers and GOP state Party leaders and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

A spokesman for Governor Christie would not comment on the gathering and Romney aides have not elaborated on it either. Several different sources reportedly deny that any specifics regarding an endorsement in New Jerseys Republican presidential primary were discussed.

But Romney has viewed New Jersey as fertile territory. In 2008 presidential campaign, the former Governor paid a decent amount of attention to the state as he made several trips to the Garden State and worked Republican grass root activists aggressively. At the time, his state campaign chairman was Monmouth County State Senator Joe Kyrillos, a former state Party chairman. Kyrillos most recently served as Governor Chris Christies state campaign chairman.

Over the past few years, Romney has been devoting a great deal of time and making an equally great amount of financial contributions to the campaign efforts of many high level and targeted Republicans. In 2009 he took sides in Chris Christies gubernatorial primary and endorsed the then U.S. District Attorney over his opponent Steve Lonegan.

Now, it looks like Romney is beginning to try to collect on his generous devotion of time and money by seeking the endorsements of those he supported since he ended his pursuit of the 2008 presidential nomination. That year, John McCain received the bulk of New Jerseys Republican establishments support, including that of the State GOP Chairman. The states Governor at the time was Democrat Jon Corzine and he was busy backing Barack Obama. Obama wound up winning New Jerseys Democrat Primary and on the Republican side McCain won with 55% of the vote with Romney coming in a distant second with 28% of the vote.

This time around, Chris Christie reigns supreme and with his high national profile and popularity, the Christie endorsement is one which any candidate for President would relish and not just for the delegate count that he could bring to them from Jersey. For Romney, having Chris Christie return the favor of an endorsement will be a prominent conservative feather to stick in his hat, a feather that Romney is going to a need lot of he wants to make past New Hampshire.

Meanwhile, in the South, Newt Gingrich received an endorsement of his own.

Georgia Governor and Gingrich friend, Nathan Deal respond to reporters questions about Gingrich by saying that if Newt ran for the Republican for the Republican presidential nomination, he would endorse him.

With 29 states now controlled by Republican governors, they will all play pivotal roles in the Republican presidential nominating process. Some like Christie though may play a bigger role than others.

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Republicans Want New Jersey Governor Christie to be Their Candidate for President

Posted on January 4, 2011 by Kempite
Bookmark and ShareA new Zogby poll has New Jersey Governor Chris Im Not Running Christie leading a potential field of Republican presidential contenders. This particular poll was conducted online, but it does demonstrate a certain degree of high name recognition and popularity for the rare conservative Northeat Republican.

Themost surprising tidbit to come out of the poll was that Christie was the only Republican to prove in the poll that he could go all the way and actuallybeat President Obama in a hypothetical match up. The lead was a mere 2%. with President Obama taking 40%, but it was enough to prove that Christie currently has one of the best shots at beating the President. Problem is, Christie has definitively stated that he will not be a candidate for President in 2012 and this poll apparently hasnt changed his mind. Nevertheless, if this snapshot of voter sentiments is accurate, Christie could prove to be a valuable asset for the lucky candidate that he does endorse in the Republican presidential contest.

Christie was already in high demand during the 2010 midterm elections when he campaigned for G.O.P. gubernatorial candidates.

After one year in office, the popularity of New Jerseys Governor is most likely due to three things. First, his blunt style and say it as it is attitude has been refreshing. He has held no punches, and been unafraid of touching political third rails. The other two factors that account for Christies popularity are his well known attempts to cut the state budget and close a near $11 billion gap and most responsible for his popularity is his combative approach to unions and attempts to get entitlements under control.

Christies request for meager concessions from unions, particularly the New Jersey Education Association, have led to a great deal of heated debate and even led one union leader to publicly wish for Christies death.

For sure, Christies popularity does not come from liberal quarters but his business not as usual leadership, has earned him high marks from conservatives and the ever important Independent vote. How long he can continue drawing such strong support from these groups is still unknown but for now, if he does keep to his word and foregoes his own run for President, he could have a big role in helping to determine who the next Republican nominee is.

As for the rest of the potential G.O.P. field, the Zogby poll showed that while Christie walked away with 27percentformer Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney took 17 percent, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin had 16 percent, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee stood at 14 percent, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels received 5 percent, and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty and incumbent South Dakota Senator John Thune polled 2 percent each and 18 percent were unsure.

The biggest loser in this poll was President Obama. With only 40% supporting him, his number indicate that he has a long way to go if he wants to have a shot at a successful relection bid.

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