Shadowed by a scandal in his home state and preceded by his reputation as a blustering bully, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is facing an ever-steeper uphill climb to the White House, political observers say.
Christie hasn’t declared a presidential run, but he’s traveling the country like someone who has already tossed his hat in the ring. All the while, he’s capitalizing on one of his greatest strengths — the ability to connect directly with voters — with a series of “Tell It Like It Is” meetups in early-voting New Hampshire.
What remains to be seen is whether Christie’s brand of tough talk can sell a potential candidacy faster than problems like the Bridgegate lane-closure scandal can undermine one.
“He basically has to appeal to primary voters one-on-one. He has the charisma to do it, and a retail-politics dominant state like New Hampshire is fertile ground for his town-hall approach,” said Patrick Murray of Monmouth University, which has polled on Christie at both the state and national levels.
“Still, he needs to get about 80,000 votes (there) to keep his hopes alive,” Murray added. “And all that would give him is the chance to head into the South where he will face all those social conservatives who really don’t like him.” And he doesn’t always help himself.
At the tail end of a two-day swing through New Hampshire on Friday, Christie bluntly told a woman at a town-hall meeting who was disturbed about Bridgegate that he’s going to “stop apologizing” for it and move on.
The day before in Manchester, Christie dug into one of his signature issues — the need to give Americans better access to drug-addiction treatment. It’s a topic that can showcase a compassionate side of the shoot-from-the-lip Christie.
Yet a few hours later, Christie was generating headlines for getting into a shouting match over the future of Social Security with conservative radio host Howie Carr. At 63, Carr is nearly eligible for retirement — and falls into the age bracket of Americans more likely to vote.
By most accounts, Christie has a much better shot of gaining traction in New Hampshire, where he will deliver a speech on economic opportunity on Tuesday, than in Iowa.
Steffen Schmidt of Iowa State University, a veteran caucus tracker, told the Daily News that right now, the percentage of voters who say they would never support Christie is simply “prohibitive.”
On top of that, Schmidt said, the Jersey governor “has too many GOP rivals with gubernatorial experience who are much nicer people than he seems to be — and they’ve been raising money, hiring staff, (and) getting (a) good reception” in the Hawkeye State.
Christie, of course, wouldn’t even be in the game without a proven level of political skill, and it’s very early in a long game.
“I have the utmost respect for Gov. Christie and what he has done in New Jersey and how he has handled crises,” said a seasoned New Hampshire political activist, who has yet to sign on with a candidate. “I kind of look forward to seeing what happens with the next few months.”
