New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Christie has become the Marco Rubio of 2011, arousing conservatives with his tough talking mantra of cutting government spending.
Christie was in Washington on Wednesday, speaking at the American Enterprise Institute, where the Daily Beast's Eleanor Clift wrote that "Christie at once charmed the audience and disappointed them when he said that short of committing suicide, he didn't know what else to do to convince people he's not running for president."
That should end the discussion, but probably won't, simply because of the group of potential GOP presidential nominees, none of them truly turn on the base (and hence the infatuation with Jeb Bush, even though he continues to insist he won't run).
Earlier this week we published the first part of our interview held last Friday with Charlie Cook, a veteran D.C. political analyst who occasionally pops up on Hardball on PBS's NewsHour. He'll be in Sarasota to speak national (and Florida) politics this coming Monday night in Sarasota (details below).
In the second part of our interview, Cook tells CL that he thinks that neither Christie, nor that other GOP "rock star," Marco Rubio, will be running as the Republican nominee to face Barack Obama next year.
“Well, I just think it’s too soon for both of them, " he said via the telephone last week. "The thing is, the calendar just doesn’t work for those guys. I mean, yes, they generate an enormous amount of excitement, but first of all…..I don’t think you can get in the race late and raise $200, $300 million dollars. I don’t think there’s anybody that could do that..and I think for Christie or Rubio I think both of them would be on … most if not all short lists for running mates… and if President Obama is re-elected, you can just take it to the bank that one or both of them will be running for President in 2016."
And Cook says that those who are urging Christie to get into the race, are ignoring the realities of his office that make that difficult.
"If you're a Senator, if you decide just to pick up a and leave and campaign around the country as a Senator, who the hell would know? But …when you’re a governor and you gotta actually run something…and in New Jersey, this is tough time to be a governor and that’s a strong governorship, I think that would be particular hard for Christie to pick up and head off to California, South Carolina, Iowa. So I just don’t think that’s going to happen."
Cook says he can't see any candidate with a serious shot at getting the GOP nomination getting into the race any later than May, because he says there's "only a finite amount of people who can raise this amount of money," to run a serious campaign, which he says will require hundreds of millions of dollars, basing it on the fact that Barack Obama raised over $700 in 2008, an all-time record.
Cook does believe that the most talented Republican prepared to run this year won't be: that being, yes, Jeb Bush.
Charlie Cook will speak on Monday, February 21 at the Sarasota Hyatt Regency, 1000 Boulevard of the Arts, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 for Forum Truth members and $30 for non-members. They may be purchased online at www.forumtruth.org or by calling 941-349-8350.
This article appears in Feb 17-23, 2011.