The most popular Republican in the country, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, got good news and bad news recently. Or, in the view of some Republicans, good news and even better news. The good news was that Christie’s approval rating hit 74% among the state’s voters. But at the same time, he was not invited to speak at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. That would be bad news if you believe a Republican needs hard-right support to win a national contest. But you could just as easily argue that a little estrangement from the extremist wing of the GOP could prove to be a plus on your political resume.
On Thursday’s show, Krystal speculated that any association “with the national Republican party is not such great thing, so [Christie] not having to appear at CPAC is probably not a big deal.” Steve furthered Krystal’s point in his Salon.com article. “For all we know, a handful of organizers are peeved at Christie–maybe over his Sandy griping, maybe over his pre-election praise for President Obama, maybe over something else entirely–and their views aren’t shared by most of the activists who will be taking part in next month’s conference.”
So could the snub affect his potential to run in 2016? Steve said Republicans who might be annoyed with Christie today may well decide to get behind him four years from now. Krystal agrees that Christie can both win back the goodwill of his party and bolster his independent image. So CPAC or no CPAC, for Christie, it’s all good.
Abby Borovitz