Christie's relatively moderate record clashes with Republican Party orthodoxy, analysts believe Watch video
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Gov. Chris Christie delivers remarks during the Perspectives on Leadership Forum at the Reagan Library on Tuesday in Simi Valley, Calif. The political world has already started dissecting the governor's record, even though he has yet to announce a bid for the White House.There goes the honeymoon.
The political world started dissecting Gov. Chris Christie’s record Sunday, putting his politics and accomplishments through the wringer on all the Sunday talk shows even though the governor remains undecided on a bid for the White House.
Herman Cain, one of the Republican contenders at the middle of the pack, fired off the first attack on Christie’s potential candidacy on "Fox News Sunday." The former pizza chain executive said Christie is far too liberal on gun control, climate change, same-sex unions and immigration to satisfy Republican voters.
"Most of the conservatives believe that we should enforce our borders. They do not believe people should be here without documentation. They do not believe global warming is a crisis or a threat," Cain said. "As you go down the line, he’s going to turn off a lot of conservatives with those positions."
Doubts about Christie’s credentials also came from the left. On CBS’s "Face the Nation," Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley of Maryland blasted Christie’s stewardship of New Jersey’s economy. He cited the state’s unemployment rate, among the highest in the country at 9.4 percent, and a series of downgrades to New Jersey’s bond ratings this year from the top credit rating agencies.
"Last year, New Jersey created no net new jobs and his schools, because of the choices he’s made to cut education funding, have actually been declining in their national ranking," O’Malley said. "That’s not a record of leadership and governance and effectiveness."
The Christie appraisals dominated the airwaves Sunday after reports last week that the first-term governor may join the race for the presidency after more than a year of forceful denials. Christie, meanwhile, kept a low profile at the annual military review of the New Jersey National Guard in Sea Girt Sunday, ignoring the throng of local and national media shouting questions about his plans and showering him with camera flashes.
A spokeswoman for the governor did not return messages seeking comment Sunday. Christie will be swearing in a judge at the Passaic County Courthouse in Paterson this afternoon but will not be taking questions there, either.
Veteran GOP strategists say that if Christie has designs on the Oval Office, building a solid campaign in a matter of weeks would be an enormous challenge. The other Republican candidates have had months to get a head start, they say, and Christie would need to put in a colossal amount of work to make up for his late entry.
Still, Christie would immediately become an appealing candidate, said Republican Govs. Robert McDonnell of Virginia and Haley Barbour of Mississippi. As they have done before, they praised Christie’s budgetary restraint and public-speaking chops — but their encouragement this time around came spliced with more reality checks about Christie’s time constraints.
"He’s an extraordinary communicator, he’s a great governor," McDonnell said on "Meet the Press" on NBC. "I just think whoever needs to get in needs to do it immediately."
On ABC’s "This Week," conservative columnist George Will challenged published reports saying Nancy Reagan has been nudging Christie to run.
"I spoke to her last night, she laughed merrily at that absurdity," Will said. "She’s not pushing anyone to run or not to run."
Patrick Murray, a pollster at Monmouth University, said those kinds of mixed messages will end up hurting Christie’s credibility in the national media.
"When you’ve got people from the right questioning the veracity of what you’ve done already, it’s a sign you’re not going to get a free pass," he said. "He may be able to ride it out in New Jersey by the force of his personality, but the problem is he may not be able to overcome that on a national campaign."
On "Fox News Sunday," panelists expressed misgivings about Christie’s moderate stances on some of the issues most important to conservatives, a sign that the vetting usually reserved for actual candidates has already begun and may continue while Christie makes up his mind.
"I’m just not sure he would wear well," said conservative commentator Brit Hume, noting that compared with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Christie represents a "larger set of departures from the Republican conservative orthodoxy."
Staff writers Chris Megerian and MaryAnn Spoto contributed to this report.