Gov. Christie: Fighting old battles

By Richard K. Barry

Who: Gov. Chris Christie's reelection campaign

Where: New Jersey

What's going on: It's hard to get very excited about the New Jersey governor's race. Christie is going to win. Blah, blah, blah. With the first television commercial of his reelection effort he highlights his bipartisan efforts on behalf of victims of Hurricane Sandy, which is what you'd expect - maybe. 

The spot talks about "working with Democrats and Republicans, believing that as long as you stick to your principles, compromise isn’t a dirty word.” And it is true that Christie has to win reelection in New Jersey before he can contemplate running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. And it is also true that he does well with independents and moderates, which would put him in a good position to  compete in a general election.

But working across the aisle is not the best way to appeal to Republican party purists who don't like the big man. It's not the best way to run for the nomination. Criticizing House Republicans over storm relief may work well at home, but perhaps not across the country.

It's an obvious point, but given how easy his victory is going to be in New Jersey, why is he going out of his way to piss off the people in his own party who hate bipartisanship? Why is he still fighting the last war?

Just asking.



(Cross-posted at Phantom Public.)