Christie continues to deny interest in the national job, but recent travels have fueled the presidential chatter
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Chris Christie campaigns in Allentown for Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate Charlie Dent Wednesday.ALLENTOWN, Pa. — New Jersey’s Bruce Springsteen-loving governor went to the city Billy Joel famously sang about Wednesday to stump for a Republican congressman and call on his constituents to move back to the Garden State.
Gov. Chris Christie, in another stop on his national political tour, descended on the rust-belt city near the New Jersey border to help raise money and promote the campaign of three-term incumbent Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.). He spoke to standing-room-only crowd of 150 at a leadership lecture and raised tens of thousands for Dent’s campaign at a VIP photo op and roundtable that cost up to $5,000 per couple to attend.
Noting that so many in the Lehigh Valley are former New Jerseyans, Christie said while he was glad to campaign for Dent, he had his own message for the crowd.
"Two out of every three of you are from New Jersey, so get home," Christie said. "We’ve got some good stuff going on over there ... We’ve got a good governor now, so get back."
For the second day in a row, Christie’s national political tour took him to Pennsylvania. He has been to places as diverse as Hollywood and Iowa and today plans previously unscheduled appearances at closed-door fundraising events in Florida.
Dent greeted Christie as a "great leader." He also chided the Democrats by singling out recent appearances for his challenger, John Callahan. "You know, he can have Joe Biden. I’ll take Chris Christie. I’m inspired by Gov. Christie."
The first-year New Jersey governor was more animated than he has been in some of his events, sprinkling his remarks with self-deprecating jokes and telling the crowd that the "people in New Jersey didn’t elect me governor to run a charm school" and reminding the audience he has a mirror and knows his popularity is not because of "my charm and good looks." He called for the GOP to stay true to the smaller government and lower spending principles of Ronald Reagan.
Dent told reporters that he — like some conservative leaders and commentators — would support Christie for president.
"It’s up to him, but I think he would make an outstanding presidential candidate and I won’t say that about many," Dent said, standing next to the governor. "Chris Christie is a man that I would get very excited about and I know my constituents would get excited about and much of this nation and much of this commonwealth would ... I can tell you there’s going to be a lot of people that want to draft him."
Christie has repeatedly said he is not interested in running, but his recent travels have fueled the presidential chatter.
Wednesday morning, Christie was profiled in a lengthy piece on NBC News during which his wife, first lady Mary Pat, endorsed her husband’s ability to run the country. After Wednesday’s event, Christie said he and his wife are in agreement and that the first lady was only saying she thought he had the necessary skills to run the country.
"It’s called the editing process," Christie said, explaining the interview lasted a half hour. "Mary Pat said the same thing I did. I was happy to hear that my wife said ‘yes,’ that she has confidence in me. But, no, this doesn’t indicate a disconnect between me and Mary Pat. We’re both on the same page on this."