Now, anyone who knows me understands that I’m a die-hard Democrat. But I’m also someone who likes getting stuff done. And when Christie — keynote speaker at the Republican convention, staunch supporter of Mitt Romney — puts his people and his state above his party, it makes me … well, proud. When Christie praises the president for working with him in a crisis, it gives me hope that maybe even congressional Republicans might work with President Barack Obama in a second term. Call me Pollyanna, but if partisan, sharp-elbowed Christie can work with the president, maybe all hope is not lost for D.C. …

The key is that a crisis created the unusual partnership. In the emergency operations centers of New Jersey and New York, Democrats and Republicans work side by side with the common purpose of saving their cities and their people. …

So can we get some more Chris Christies up in here? Can the D.C. Republicans look to the bombastic yet utterly human governor of New Jersey and think: Wow, if bipartisanship and pragmatic leadership works for him, maybe it’ll work in the U.S. Senate, too? There are plenty of crises to rally around: climate change, the fiscal cliff, the long-term deficit, immigration, the creation of middle-class jobs in America. There’s lots of work to do for a nation challenged by external forces — a global economy, a rising China, turmoil in the Middle East. Could the Republicans see the Christie model as one that will serve their purposes, too?