Despite his problems, Christie retains a trump card: No prospective GOP presidential candidate is better at talking to voters. That may have diminishing returns in New Jersey, where his popularity has taken a hit. But in small, retail-heavy early voting states like do-or-die New Hampshire, it’s an edge and, at this juncture, something of a lifeline.
On Tuesday, that quality was fully on display. Christie’s constituents came after him with questions on topics ranging from education standards to the minimum wage, and the Second Amendment to the state’s nearly bankrupt transportation fund. With each answer, Christie was direct, clear and engaging, even when telling people something they didn’t want to hear. It was the same bombastic but engaging style that has allowed him to turn typically mundane exchanges into YouTube moments and made him a national star in the first place.
“Yeah, we don’t have the money,” Christie told one man who asked him a prolonged, probing question about his decision to shortchange pension payments for public workers in the state. “Ten years from now, when your pension is there, look up my address on the Internet and send me a thank-you note, alright?”
If Christie is to chart a path back to the top tier of the presidential campaign, he could look toward another blunt-talking Republican for instruction. Back in the summer of 2007, Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) once-promising second presidential bid appeared all but dead amid a disastrous early fundraising push.
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