The Garden State is “in” right now, Save Jerseyans. California used to be the country’s favorite pop culture state. No longer.
To recognize this trend, all you’ve needed to do is watch television at some point in the past several years; who hasn’t watched Real Housewives and The Jersey Shore, or had a water cooler chat about The Sopranos and now Boardwalk Empire. In fact, I’d bet more families know who Chris “Viral” Christie is than their own local representatives (federal, state and local).
That’s part of the reason why Chris Christie was on the ground for Mitt Romney this past week in key battleground Ohio towns. He draws a crowd, excites volunteers, and his name recognition warrants extra media coverage. But Democrats have a Garden State icon of their own, and he’s been on the trail a lot longer. The Governor’s equally famous New Jersey legend, Bruce Springsteen, is scheduled to play a concert in support of President Obama on Thursday in union-strong Parma, Ohio, only minutes from the site of Christie’s own campaign stump in Cuyahoga Falls.
Growing up attending all of those Springsteen concerts, Christie never anticipated having to campaign against his music rock idol. Life is full of those bitter sweet little ironies.
Granted, I wish the Boss had shown as much enthusiasm for the Revel grand opening as he is for Barack Obama’s Buckeye campaign, but that’s another story for another time.
I’m just amused to see New Jersey play such a prominent role in Ohio politics this cycle, and I’m sure you are, too. We were born to run!
