Christie Says No--Joins Long Line of Refuseniks

Chris Christie once again announced he was not running for President this year. Having been courted by Henry Kissinger, the Koch Brothers,Nancy Reagan and George H. W. Bush and an assortment of high rollers, Governor Christie decided he already had a job.

The rumor mill basically had him go through the motions of reconsidering by contacting donors and Republican officials who are dismayed by the current field. Christie's advisers were assessing the time to assemble a major league team for the primaries and how they would fare in New Hampshire. Christie would have to file in about two weeks to run in that primary.

Interestingly enough it was a bunch of Wall Street donors who kept the pressure on Christie. They apparently are disappointed with Bain Capital's Mitt Romney, which is a story to be covered. Romney's own fund-raising this quarter has drooped to about $11 million--compared to an estimated $55 million for President Obama, who doesn't have to compete in primaries.

The list of Republicans not running this year is more impressive than the real candidates. Opting out have been Jeb Bush, Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, Mike Huckabee and now Christie. Have you noticed how one respects those who don't run more than those who have tossed their helmuts in the ring? Maybe it's the decision not to run that gives them a tinge of gravitas.

The only marquee name remaining is Sarah Palin, who doesn't have a job. I still believe with Michelle Bachmann's campaign shedding campaign workers and drowning in debt that Palin might give it a go.

A blogger suggested that the Republicans actually want to throw the presidential election because the establishment believes the teabaggers are so crazy that a defeat would allow them to purge the ranks. I like the idea but I tend to doubt it.

Michael Gerson today in the Washington Post started the whitewash of Romney as Mormon issue and argued that evangelicals would vote for a conservative Mormon to beat liberal Barack Obama. But gerson does mention the anti-Mormon literature that circulated in the South last time Romney ran.

Basically, the Republican establishment will try to condition the primary voter to accept Romney. For his part, Romney had a lovefest with Huckabee on Fox News and promised to push a constitutional amendment that personhood began with conception--one of the most retrograde ideas circulated by the religious Far Right. There is no one stopping Romney right now pandering to the extreme Right and he will do this throughout the primary process.

The boomlet behind Herman Cain isn't being matched by big donors. His popularity is more at the expense of Perry's demolition with the accusations of racism and his promise to invade Mexico. Perry still has the money but I'm not so sure with the chicanery with the primary schedule whether he can get back in.

The Brennen Institute issued a report yesterday on the efforts to restrict voters rights in the states. They estimate that this year these restrictions, including Voter ID laws, will affect over 5 million voters. Primarily those affected will be core democratic constituencies.

Politically, this means that in a close election--which this one looks like--the Democrats will be at an enormous disadvantage. Which makes you wonder why any Republican bowed out of this year's election.

The number one choice for Vice President is Florida's Senator Marco Rubio because of the centrality of that state to the electoral vote. The Miami Herald published an expose that the Spanish-language network Univision had promised to quietly kill a report about Rubio's brother if the Senator cooperated in a program. It seems Rubio's brother had been busted for drugs years ago and was a bit player in a Coke and Dope ring in the Florida area. But once this cap is off, expect more stories coming out about the Senator.