'I'm sure that he's not going to run," Todd Christie said. 'If he's lying to me, I'll be as stunned as I've ever been in my life.' Watch video
Gov. Chris Christie, left, and his brother Todd at the Statehouse in February.ST. LOUIS — Members of Gov. Chris Christie's inner circle said today he won't run for president, batting down increased speculation that spiked on Monday when former Gov. Tom Kean said Christie was thinking about throwing his hat in the ring.
Christie's brother, a well-connected Republican fundraiser, said the governor hasn't changed his mind.
"I'm sure that he's not going to run," Todd Christie said. "If he's lying to me, I'll be as stunned as I've ever been in my life."
Three people close to Christie said they were surprised by Kean's comments to National Review, a conservative magazine. They said the two men hadn't spoken in about a week — Christie and Kean gave back-to-back speeches at a Homeland Security conference on Wednesday -— and they insisted that Christie wasn't going to run.
Kean told the magazine's website on Monday that Christie is giving a presidential run "a lot of thought," saying, "I think the odds are a lot better now than they were a couple weeks ago."
His comments raised eyebrows in political circles because of the former governor's role as a political mentor to Christie.
Kean has not returned phone calls. Christie would not answer questions this morning, but he has steadfastly denied that he will enter the presidential race as recently as Thursday.
Christie spoke this morning at a St. Louis-area fundraiser for Ann Wagner, who is running for Congress next year and faces a primary battle. Wagner is a high-profile player in the national GOP, serving as co-chair of the Republican National Committee from 2001 through 2005 and making a failed bid to lead the committee in January.
Like Christie, she was a fundraiser for former President George W. Bush.
On Monday night Christie headlined a fundraiser for the Missouri Republican Party at Hunter Farms, a 500-acre estate owned by a prominent Republican family. Hundreds of people listened to Christie speak at an open-air pavilion erected on the estate for political events.
"He brought the house down," Wagner said. "He was funny. He was engaging."
Christie also held an intimate fundraiser for the New Jersey Republican Party on Monday afternoon at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in a St. Louis suburb.
Today Christie is flying to California to deliver a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, a requisite pit stop for conservatives with national aspirations. His remarks, titled "Real American Exceptionalism," will show "how the United States' role and significance in the world is defined by who we are at home," a spokeswoman for the governor said.
The speech is scheduled for 9 p.m. EST and will be streamed live here on NJ.com.
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