He’s especially contemptuous of sitting freshmen Sens. Rubio, Cruz and Rand Paul. He says the Senate “is like school. You’re told where to go, what time to be there, where to sit, they ask you questions, and you have to answer yes or no. I’m dismissive of the United States Senate because it is not a place to breed presidents. What about that experience makes someone qualified to be president of the United States?

“Let me tell you, as a governor, that’s not the way the issues come to you,” Mr. Christie says. The questions are “nuanced and complex and unpredictable. . . . To me, for someone who likes action and who wants to accomplish things, get things done, I can’t imagine referring the bill to the subcommittee for further amendment, and then waiting a year to see if something will happen.”

The New Hampshire body politic typically waits until the final weeks, or even days, to decide. In the Franklin Pierce poll, only 45% of likely GOP voters described their loyalty as “firm.” In a University of New Hampshire poll from early December, merely 18% said they’ve made up their minds, while another 26% are committed merely to “leaning” toward a candidate. This uncertainty isn’t captured in traditional if-the-election-were-held-today surveys.

But Mr. Christie wouldn’t be the first roman-candle candidate relying on a single state to become a stranded winner, lacking the money and field organization for a protracted campaign. “Listen, I think if you’re winning you’ll have the resources. If you’re winning, the resources come,” he says.