The right doesn’t feel that Christie did enough for Mitt Romney in 2012, instead hugging on Barack Obama during Hurricane Sandy. They don’t think he helped where needed as Republican Governors Association chief during the midterms.
Meanwhile, the George Washington Bridge scandal has in some quarters reinforced Christie’s image as a bully, even though the governor has never been implicated. Donors began to doubt whether Christie could really beat a conservative upstart—maybe even a Ted Cruz or Rand Paul—when push came to shove, leading to murmurs about Romney and opening the door to Jeb.
Christie is still polling competitively, but in the latest CNN poll, he is 10 points behind Bush. Bush’s lead isn’t impressive compared to either his father or brother’s at a similar point in their presidential races, but it is also the first major survey in this cycle to show a candidate with a lead greater than the margin of error.
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