Governor's visit to Iowa has some Republicans hoping Christie will re-consider his decision not to run for President
Gov. Chris Chrisite figures to have a lot of GOP donors in his ear when he arrives in Iowa today.DES MOINES, Iowa — When Gov. Chris Christie arrives in Des Moines today, wealthy Republican donors will be watching his every move for a sign.
Just one perceived wink or a little nod in Iowa, the starting gate for the presidential primary, will send hopeful supporters into a frenzy.
Christie insists he isn’t running in 2012, but even jokingly threatening suicide hasn’t stopped influential Republicans from asking if he’s really serious about sitting out the race.
There’s a reason for that.
Disappointment with the Republican field, Christie’s quick rise to fame and his uncanny ability to entertain and keep himself in the public eye have backers insisting he’s the politician with the best chance of toppling President Obama — if only he’d run.
“As I talk to some people around the country, they’re not sure we have a candidate who can win,” Candace Straight, a prominent New Jersey Republican who raises funds for the party, said of the current field. “I don’t think that anybody in the Republican field has shown that this is the person who is going to beat Obama.”
Christie first attracted widespread attention when he ousted an incumbent Democratic governor in left-leaning New Jersey, a victory some leading Republicans believe he can repeat on the national level.
“I would do backflips if he would run,” said Paulette Pyle, an Oregonian who raised money for former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 2008 and collected hundreds of thousands of dollars for former President George W. Bush.
In May, a half-dozen Iowans traveled all the way to the governor’s mansion in Princeton to make their case, but to no avail.
And just last week, Ken Langone, the cofounder of Home Depot, and several hedge fund managers gathered in Manhattan to urge Christie on. But again he declined, citing his responsibility to his family, obligations in New Jersey and, according to the website Politico, concern over whether he could win. He said he was confident, but not certain.
The dissatisfaction with the Republican field can be seen in lukewarm poll numbers and the lack of a clear frontrunner with the ability to energize voters the way Obama did in 2008. Some backers worry the field’s ultra-conservative candidates can’t win a general election, while the more moderate ones haven’t excited the public.
For now, the pack of Republican hopefuls is led by former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. It also includes a couple of other ex-governors, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Jon Huntsman of Utah; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, and Herman Cain, the former chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza.
Republicans are also waiting to see if former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska and the three-term governor of Texas, Rick Perry, will enter the race.
“The American people are pretty fed up with Republicans and Democrats, and they want a candidate who will stand tall among all the other candidates and make sure this country remains a free marketplace,” said Terry Neese, an Oklahoma entrepreneur who has raised money for several Republican presidential candidates.
Until a candidate catches fire, Straight said, donors will keep knocking at Christie’s door — even if that stretches beyond next year’s Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.
“The people like Ken Langone will still be trying to get people into the primary,” she said.
The number of wealthy donors who keep buttonholing Christie demonstrate that he wouldn’t have to worry about raising money.
“He’s not going to be at the tail end of the pack in terms of money raised or ability to raise it,” said David Norcross, a former Republican national committeeman from New Jersey who has retired and lives Virginia.
But Neese, who led the National Association of Women Business Owners, said Christie supporters haven’t reached out to her or anyone she knows in politics or business.
“With that knowledge, I would assume he’s not even considering it or by this time he would be talking to someone,” Neese said.
While many close advisers have worked on national campaigns, Christie hasn’t begun to build an infrastructure needed to mount a serious effort.
Still, donors continue to watch for a sign that Christie might change his mind, including those who gather contributions from donors and political action committees for maximum impact, a practice known as bundling.
To Pyle, a lobbyist for agricultural interests, it’s all about winning, not ideology. As a result, she and her money are staying on the sidelines until she thinks she’s found someone who can prevail.
“Most people are looking for the candidate who can win,” she said. “We have got to defeat Barack Obama.”
With no clear winner, almost anything that can be interpreted as a sign that Christie may run is taken apart piece-by-piece and analyzed.
When it was reported earlier this year that Christie had started dieting and working with a personal trainer, pundits insisted that was a clear indication he was in. When he was interviewed for an hour by Piers Morgan on CNN, supporters began whispering that he was gearing up. Even his cuts to the state budget were interpreted by Democrats as a sign that he was burnishing his reputation as a can-do chief executive.
And as a sitting governor, he gets to drive a narrative that showcases his leadership traits, said Brian Jones, who was an adviser for the campaigns of Sen. John McCain and President George W. Bush.
“Every day he has an opportunity to show his leadership,” Jones said. “The rest of the field doesn’t have that structural advantage.”
As he put it: “If you go around the country, you’d be hard-pressed to find another governor who is exhibiting the kind of leadership Christie is. Among Republicans, he is universally liked and admired.”
By Ginger Gibson and Chris Megerian/Statehouse Bureau Staff