Christie a blueprint for GOP turnabout

WASHINGTON

A pair of polls out this week indicate the dire state the Republican Party finds itself in -- and a way out of the wilderness, should Republicans choose to take it.

Poll No. 1: Rasmussen Reports found that views of the "tea party" -- the wing of Republicanism that dominates party primaries and therefore the congressional Republican caucuses -- at a new low. Only 8 percent of likely voters considered themselves tea-party members, down from 24 percent in 2010. According to Rasmussen (which tends to have a pro-Republican bias), unfavorable views of the movement topped favorable views, 49 percent to 30 percent.

Poll No. 2: Fairleigh Dickinson University found that 73 percent of New Jersey voters approved of the job their Republican governor, Chris Christie, is doing -- near his all-time high. Even 62 percent of Democrats approve of Christie, as well as 69 percent of racial minorities and 70 percent of women. The top would-be challenger to Christie in November's gubernatorial election is trailing him by 33 percentage points.

So grim are things for the Democrats in heavily Democratic New Jersey that the state Senate president, Democrat Stephen Sweeney, apologized Monday after saying Christie wished for Hurricane Sandy to hit New Jersey. "I guess he prayed a lot and got lucky a storm came," Sweeney had said.

Certainly, the storm -- and, more importantly, Christie's forceful response -- boosted the governor's standing. But the tea party's record lows and Christie's record highs tell a larger story: Americans are crying out for an end to ideological warfare.

That has developed into Christie's signature in New Jersey. He began his term promising tax cuts and fighting with the teachers union over tenure, pay and education reforms, but he now preaches reconciliation -- a recurring theme in his State of the State address Tuesday.

"Now, we've had our fights," he told state legislators. "We have stuck to our principles. But we have established a governing model for America that shows that, even with heartfelt beliefs, bipartisan compromise is possible. … Maybe the folks in Washington, in both parties, could learn something from our record here."

Christie, his eye on a possible 2016 presidential run, overstates that record, both in terms of economic progress and in terms of partisan cooperation. But his message is undoubtedly a winning one. More than three-quarters of Americans believe that politics in Washington is causing "serious harm to the United States," according to a new Gallup poll -- and they are correct to think so.

Christie lent his powerful voice to that sentiment last week when he condemned as "disgusting" the House Republicans' decision not to take up a $60billion Hurricane Sandy recovery bill because tea-party lawmakers considered it wasteful. "That's why people hate Washington," Christie said at the time, helping force House Speaker John Boehner to reconsider.

It was just the latest of Christie's many breaks with tea-party orthodoxy. Just before the election, his effusive praise of President Barack Obama's "outstanding" response to Sandy earned him condemnation.

He unnerved fiscal conservatives by saying that the hurricane recovery would probably require higher taxes, because "there's no magic money tree." He came out against the National Rifle Association's plan to have gun-wielding guards in schools, saying, "You don't want to make this an armed camp for kids."

Earlier, after conservatives criticized his appointment of a Muslim judge, he took on these "bigots" for their "gaze of intolerance." And on immigration, he called for an "orderly process" to legalize undocumented immigrants and he criticized those who "demagogue."

Certainly, Christie is no liberal, but his State of the State speech was full of policy prescriptions that conservatives might label big government: "We've requested the federal government to pay 100 percent of the costs of the significant debris removal. … We have secured $20million from the Federal Highway Administration. … We have worked with the Small Business Administration to secure nearly $189million in loans."

Christie also bragged about "implementing the toughest fertilizer law in America," fighting insurers' "excessive deductibles" and "investing the largest amount of state aid to education in New Jersey history." He said "both Republicans and Democrats" would make sure the state got its full federal payout for the storm.

"You see," he told the legislators, "some things are above politics."

It's a lesson that could help the national Republican Party loosen the tea party's death grip.

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Chris Christie Fever Is A Chronic Condition (The Atlantic Wire)

The Republican primary electorate, if the journalism devoted to its ever-changing tastes is to be believed, has come to resemble an indecisive diner staring at the circling dessert cart. Will they fill up on Romney? Why settle for Romney when they could have Bachmann? A little Bachmann doesn't tide over a voter hungry for Romney. And having ordered and tasted them all, aren't they just going to wind up salivating over the banana split anyway?

Related: The Chris Christie Dream Won't Die

So attention turns again to Chris Christie.

Related: A War of Comparisons

The New Jersey governor who has spent much of the year swearing up and down that he's not considering a run for president is now "reconsidering," says Politico, citing Republican sources. The lingering insecurity among Republican voters about their frontrunners so far is a factor in Christie's deliberations, the sources report.

Related: Google Splits Ad Team Down Party Lines, Denies Favoring Obama

If Republican voters really aren't satisfied with their options so far, it indicates two truths. First, some of those voters just really don't like Mitt Romney, the front-runner since the earliest of early-going and the candidate who polls best against President Barack Obama. Second, Rick Perry, the confident Texan who was supposed to enter the race like the cavalry cresting the hill has seriously failed to impress.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s candidacy has failed to clear a basic bar with elites and some donors, and his shoddy debate performance in Orlando has only highlighted the window for someone who Republicans searching for a Mitt Romney alternative can rally around.

Christie’s potential candidacy has been an increasingly fevered fantasy of a certain cadre of some media and business elites — mostly based in New York, with a smattering of California technology and entertainment players — since last summer. That’s when he showed up at a Sun Valley conference hosted by the investment banker Allen and Co. and wowed the crowd, including Rupert Murdoch, with what many in attendance described as a nimble mind and a speaking style that was both articulate and blunt-spoken.

But after months of going out of his way to end the speculation, Christie started indicating he would at least think about getting in during the past week, the sources said, a period in which he held an event with Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels — who has strongly indicated he’d like to see another entry to the field — and had a meeting with a group of major New York donors.

Not just Politico, either. He's thinking about it, the New York Post says.

Related: Democrats Try to Change the Subject from Debt to Jobs

It is probably a good indicator of conservative hunger for a Christie candidacy that we have entered the stage of Pundit Persona Adoption. Thus was Jennifer Rubin's Right Turn column inhabiting the Christie mind even before this week's Republican debate began. A fictional Bill Kristol even clamors from the wings:

Christie would then turn and say, “Mary Pat, this is sort of embarrassing.” Mary Pat would answer: “You think you could do any better?” Before he could answer, one of his kids would yell out, “Dad, it’s that Mr. Kristol on the phone again. He says he’s coming over here if you don’t talk to him.”

But does the guy actually want to run for president? And can he? An interesting group is still dumping cold water on the news, including Ari Fleischer, the former spokesman for President George W. Bush. Fleischer has been tweeting skeptically about Christie's chances of entering the presidential race since the latest boomlet of interest arrived. It's too late for Christie to raise enough money and get "up 2 speed on issues" (ouch?) in time to make a play for the Republican nomination, Fleischer says. There is "no on ramp now" for Christie, Fleischer asserts. Speaking fluent Twitterese, the spokesman explains: "Xpectations r 2do things instantly, but it takes time 2get in national shape."

Related: Perry Will Say Obama's Too Wimpy to Be Commander in Chief

He also offers an explanation for Christie's backers to push a national run, one that Christie fans won't like. All is not well back in Trenton, Fleischer says:

$ ppl are telling Christie he can't win re-election in NJ so he needs 2 run 4 potus. It's now or never, they're telling him.

Somehow, I think they'll come up with a better line than "I'm running for President because I can't get reelected governor" if the time comes.

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