By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
I won’t sugarcoat it for you: persistently weak polling and continuous scandal rumors are steadily undermining confidence among the political professionals and donors who Chris Christie needs to mount a successful establishment presidential push, Save Jerseyans.
Drip, drip, drip…
On Tuesday, the Observer’s Ken Kurson (formerly of Jamestown Associates) penned a retrospectively-shocking piece detailing the defection of more major New Jersey-based money men from the Christie sphere of influence over to Camp Bush, including the state’s three biggest GOP donors; a Kissinger fundraiser is even reportedly in the works (after he previously exhibited a receptive attitude to a Christie campaign). “As major players in New Jersey and New York continue to trickle into Mr. Bush’s column,” Kurson concluded, “Mr. Christie is discovering that bringing ambitious New Jersey political types to heel might not be as easy as ordering Sandy suntanners to get the hell off the beach.”
The source is somewhat eye-opening. Kurson, the editor whose publication is the parent entity of PolitickerNJ, is well-trafficked in N.J. politics. He played a significant role in state Sen. Joe Kyrillos’s ill-fated 2008 U.S. Senate campaign, one of the flash points that allegedly drove a wedge between the Kyrillos and Christie who, in case you never heard the story, introduced Kyrillos to his wife. Kyrillos joined GOP fundraiser Brian Nelson, with whom he works in the same building, Jeb Bush and other N.J. heavyweights (referenced in Kurson’s piece) at a recent Bush dinner in NYC.
Drip, drip, drip…
Things aren’t looking much better in the Heartland. Arguably? Worse. Out in Iowa, Bob Jordan of APP reports today how he found waning support among the Hawkeye leaders who visited Drumthwacket back in 2012 to recruit Christie for a challenge to Obama. “Embracing President Obama hurt him a lot since then,” shared the woman who had organized the mission.
Plop. Splat.
Go Right or go home, Mr. Governor. It’s the only way forward… other than waiting around for Jeb Bush to implode, and in that case, as of today, Walker is best position to capitalize on it (if he gets a team/plan together in time). Lots of “ifs” for sure, but for a guy like Chris Christie that is Underwood-esque levels of expert at plotting things out, this isn’t his kind of game at the moment. He needs to change the game.
A RINO doesn’t change his spots even when dressed up in Conservative drag and running for President. Almost every Republican voter in next year’s primaries knows what Christie is all about, and he is definitely not a Conservative. Christie calling himself a Conservative has as much credibility as Obama calling himself a good Christian.