Former NJ governor (Kean) talks up current NJ governor (Christie) for president

By Michael J.W. Stickings

National Review reports on a possible Chris Christie "boomlet":

Former New Jersey governor Tom Kean, who has known Chris Christie since he was a teenager and remains an informal adviser, tells National Review Online that the governor is "very seriously" considering a presidential bid.

"It's real," Kean says. "He's giving it a lot of thought. I think the odds are a lot better now than they were a couple weeks ago."

Christie remains undecided, Kean says, but is listening closely to pleas from party leaders. The chance for a "Jersey guy" to rise, Kean says, is not something Christie has sought. But now, with the field up for grabs, he is actively mulling a late entry.

"More and more people are talking to him," Kean says. "He's getting appeals from major figures around the country." Kean, for his part, is also encouraging the first-term Republican to jump in. "He is the best speaker I may have ever heard in politics," he tells me.

"In an era when most people suspect that politicians read polls and then tell you what they think, people don't believe he's that kind of a fellow," Kean says. "He tells you what he thinks, period. We like that around here."

I'm not buying it.

First, a lot of people are talking to a lot of people about running, given the general weakness of the GOP presidential field. Kean might as well be talking about Palin or Giuliani.

Second, no one really wants a "Jersey guy" in the Oval Office, or at least not Republicans.

Third, if Christie doesn't care about polls, it may be because the polls don't exactly make him look good. He's deeply unpopular in his own state. And if he couldn't even win New Jersey...

Fourth, getting back to the whole "Jersey guy thing," Republicans also don't like people who tell you what they're thinking when what they're thinking isn't right-wing orthodoxy. And Christie has proven -- much to his credit, I might add -- that he's anything but an orthodox right-winger. For example, while there may be quite a bit to recommend him to conservatives (including to the extremist base that votes in GOP primaries), such as his penchant for union-bashing, he actually appointed a Muslim to the state judiciary and, when attacked for doing so by those on the right fearmongering about Sharia law, called such concerns "crap," pointed to the "ignorance" behind the criticism, and said he was "tired of dealing with the crazies." That's no way to talk about your own party, particularly if you want to be its presidential nominee -- which, in the GOP means cozying up to the crazies (just ask Mitt Romney).

Fifth, Christie may be a bully and a blowhard, but he isn't an idiot. He's got to know that if he got in he'd lose badly.

Like I said, I'm not buying it.