But even if the Bridge flap proves a minor bump in the road for Christie’s national ambitions, it nonetheless reminds us that Christie is not only not the inevitable 2016 Republican nominee, he might not even make it as far as the Iowa Caucuses. And that perception itself can become self-fulfilling: it emboldens other candidates to jump in the race, as they might not if Christie looked like a juggernaut. It was Mitt Romney’s money machine that played a major role in discouraging people like Christie and Paul Ryan from mounting bids in 2012, and caused Romney’s major rival in the center-right of the party (Tim Pawlenty) to bet too heavily on the Iowa Straw Poll.

However things work out for Christie, a lot can still happen to him as well as to other Republicans between now and the primaries. As we’ve been seeing, even a guy who has been fairly well-vetted by the hostile New York, Philly and Jersey media still hasn’t seen the kind of scrutiny that wilts national candidates. Hopping on the Christie bandwagon, much less trying to clear the field for him (or any other GOP candidate) at this early stage would be madness. Unlike the Democrats, whose bench behind Hillary Clinton is frighteningly sparse (and who can be confident that Hillary has been so drenched in scandal over the years without collapsing that nothing new could come out that would sink her), Republicans right now have a deep stable of talented, plausible presidential contenders; the wise move is to sit back and make them prove their case before putting a ring on it. Personally, my top choices remain Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker, but I’m more than happy to see them and other contenders put to the test of making the sale.