New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie delivered the opening speech at the Republican Party’s spring convention in Sacramento on Saturday. Like the substantial man on campus, Christie essentially told party stalwarts: I know you’ve heard bad things about me, but here’s why you should date me.
Three years ago, Christie was on top. Big donors were begging him to get into the presidential race and save the Republican Party from Mitt Romney. Then his luck changed. In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy slammed into Jersey Shore, and the grateful governor gave a bear hug to President Barack Obama, who offered federal aid. The GOP base roared. In 2013, Christie’s staff closed the George Washington Bridge in a political retaliation; investigations never linked Christie to the stunt, but his can-do persona was damaged. In October, Christie snapped that the heckler should “sit down and shut up.” Will voters see his style as good fighting or bad manners?
Christie dismissed his style as “passionate.” “I don’t just fight for the sake of it,” he explained; I fight battles worth winning. He didn’t have to add that, unlike the last GOP candidate, with Christie, what you see is what you get.
Establishment favorite Jeb Bush spent the weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference in DC, where attendees booed him. The son and brother of presidents tried to sell himself to substantial donors as a candidate who is willing to “lose a primary to win the general election.”
In edged contrast, Christie didn’t come to Sacramento to criticize the base. Instead, he told the lunch crowd, “This is our party. This is our movement. This is our country.” And, “Don’t be afraid to trust your authority. Don’t be afraid to see a leader who will listen to you.”
Before and after Christie spoke, I approached the audience and asked them for their top three picks. The name I heard most often was Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker—also a Republican governor in a blue state who has fought public-employment unions. Some old-timers liked Bush. Republicans love governors this year. Only California Assemblyman Travis Allen told me Christie was in his top three—along with Bush and Walker.
After the speech, Hoover Institution Fellow Bill Evers spoke to four other conventioneers. Is Christie in the top three? No, they said. They want more substance and politics. They watched the magic ooze from Christie’s mug. They’re not sure he could win.
The Jersey Don should appreciate their skepticism. In “Double Down,” Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s book about the 2012 election, the authors argue that in October 2012, Christie—whom George W. Bush called “Big Boy”—realized that the patrician Romney was not going to win Ohio. Evers and company see Christie as a GOP politician with a real chance of winning over working-class voters. So “would he be acceptable to us?” Yes, they agreed. If he could make it to the prom, Christie would.
