THE NEW YORK TIMES

Fellow Republicans Keep Christie in Demand

By REBECCA CATHCART and RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA

LOS ANGELES — Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey sat center stage in a Hollywood hotel ballroom on Wednesday afternoon, next to Meg Whitman, who is running for governor of California, and told a parable of a schoolyard bully as he talked about “standing up to teachers’ unions” in New Jersey.

“And I walked up to them,” said Mr. Christie, referring to what he considered union leaders’ bullying of teachers and students, “and I said, ‘You punch them, I punch you.’ ”

Many in the audience of about 400 hooted and waved green and orange pompoms above their heads.

Just eight months after taking office, Mr. Christie is in demand by Republican candidates across the country, political consultants say, receiving many more invitations than he can accept. His appearances with Ms. Whitman are the first of many he has scheduled over the coming weeks, including events Thursday with Susana Martinez, the Republican candidate for governor of New Mexico, and a trip next week to Ohio.

Mr. Christie’s blunt manner and barbed humor, and his record as a budget-cutting Republican who has had his way in a state dominated by Democrats, have made him a favorite of conservative television and radio.

“Governor Christie is a little bit of a cable and YouTube sensation, especially with Republicans,” said Ed Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, calling him one of the best communicators the party has. “I’ve had a number of people say, ‘Hey, do you know how to get me to Chris Christie?’ ”

The Republican Governors Association has promoted Mr. Christie as its new star, as in a long, polished video tribute that it released this month. His travel plans mostly include states like California, New Mexico, Maryland, Illinois and Pennsylvania, where the races for governor are expected to be closely contested.

“The thing this year for Republican candidates for governor is to campaign as budget cutters, and right now Christie is the best-known example,” said Prof. John C. Green, a political scientist at the University of Akron.

Mr. Christie’s itinerary repays a debt to the governors’ association, which helped him get elected, but it is also typical of a politician with an eye on national office, trying to raise his profile in unfamiliar parts of the country.

Questions about presidential ambitions, and the governor’s emphatic denials, have become a standard feature of his interviews.

But some political analysts expressed doubt that Mr. Christie’s visits would have much effect on his public profile across the country, or on the candidates he backs. Still, such events get the attention of Republican activists, “the people who write checks and stuff envelopes and are delegates to a national convention,” Dr. Green said.

Allan Hoffenblum, publisher of the “California Target Book,” a guide to that state’s politics, said: “The overwhelming majority of voters out here don’t know who the governor of Nevada is, much less New Jersey. Having him here might help Meg Whitman a little with the diehards who question her conservative credentials, but it probably does more for him than it does for her.”

But the governor’s travels are not without risks. Many politicians have found that as they traveled and built national reputations, their stock fell at home. Mr. Christie must balance his time on the road with his efforts to win passage by year’s end of an ambitious array of bills. His challenges include dealing with a big deficit in the state’s pension fund and helping local governments cut spending.

In Trenton, the Democrats who control the Legislature are holding hearings on his administration’s biggest stumble so far, the loss of a $400 million federal education grant because of a clerical error. Democrats clearly hope the hearings will slow the governor down.

In Hollywood, Susan Choueke, 61, a donor to Republican campaigns across the country, including Ms. Whitman’s, said Mr. Christie’s presence was welcome support from a well-regarded Republican who had inspired unity among conservatives “in a blue state.”

“Chris Christie is doing very well in New Jersey,” Ms. Choueke said. “There, they were able to get a unanimous feeling about how upset they were and voice their displeasure. Out here, we are very divided.”

As a question-and-answer session with Mr. Christie, Ms. Whitman and the conservative talk show host Eric Hogue came to an end, a heckler began yelling at Ms. Whitman from the audience. Mr. Christie turned to the man. “If you want to yell at someone, yell at me,” he said in measured tones. “We don’t need more division in this country.”

Audience members jumped to their feet, cheered and whistled.