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Article IndexGovernor ran neck and neck with Obama, Romney
BY TOM HESTER SR.
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Tuesday was a busy news day at the Statehouse, highlighted by Gov. Chris Christie’s announcement that he will not seek the Republican presidential nomination. So let’s take a break, sit back and picture Marlon Brando, not as Terry Malloy, hero of the classic film “On the Waterfront,” but as Chris Christie in “On the Presidential Front” — with some change in the dialogue, of course.
“Remember that night in Mendham? You came into my living room and said, ‘Kid, this ain’t your year. We’re going for the price on Romney.’ Remember that? I coulda' have taken Romney apart. So what happens. He gets a shot at the GOP nomination at the convention in Tampa. What do I get, a one-way ticket to Trenton. You don’t understand, I coulda' had class. I coulda' been a contender instead of a New Jersey governor, which is what I am.”
Of course, Christie decided on his own not to run, but it turns out he could have been a contender.
The results of a Quinnipiac University national poll made public Tuesday found the governor shot to the top of the Republican presidential field, and ran neck and neck with President Obama in a 2012 general election matchup.
In the presidential matchup, Christie got 45 percent to Obama’s 42 percent. Christie won 87 – 5 percent among Republicans and 45 – 37 percent among independent voters, while Democrats backed Obama 86 – 8 percent.
“This survey shows Gov. Christie is walking away from the possibility – at least today – to be elected president of the United States,” Peter Brown, the poll‘s assistant director, said. “Whether he would have won the GOP nomination or the election will never be known, but the data indicate he had a serious chance to win it all.”
Among Republican voters, Christie and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney tied at 17 percent each, followed by 12 percent for businessman Herman Cain, 10 percent for Texas Gov. Rick Perry. None of the other GOP hopefuls polled above 7 percent.
