Chris Christie slid into a distant third place in New Hampshire as the GOP field contracted this fall, Save Jerseyans, but the ex-New Jersey governor isn’t catching any breaks.
The latest blow might be a difficult one from which to recover. Impossible? Stay tuned.
On Tuesday, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu endorsed Nikki Haley over Christie who had hoped to lock up the popular population’s backing in his effort to turn New Hampshire’s primary into an accelerant for his sleepy campaign.
Haley is 20+ points back on Trump in New Hampshire; Sununu, a vocal Trump critic, clearly hopes his organization and stamp of approval can help her finish close enough to the former president to create the appearance that the race is competitive nationally.
Why did he choose Haley over Christie? He can read a poll, for starters, and Haley is polling stronger than Christie and his badly-damaged post-Bridge gate brand.
Speaking with reporters after the endorsement announcement, Sununu also explained that Christie’s “entire campaign has been really about going nuclear against Trump. And there’s a lot of truth there. And that’s his message in his campaign” whereas “[w]hat Nikki [Haley] has been able to do is say: ‘I’m not just going to tell what not to vote for. I’m going to tell you what I bring to the table.’” Translation: he think she’s the better product both now and later.
Christie is almost guaranteed to improve upon his 7.38% 6th place finish in 2016 in the Granite State simple because there are fewer competitors and Trump, polling well above his 35.23% showing at present, is a de facto incumbent in the Republican electorate’s eyes. But this isn’t a contest for most improved. Christie needs to defy expectations with a second place win to make any argument for relevancy in a contest that is little more than a vanity quest for second place.
