Chris Christie, odd man out?

“They can say whatever they want,” Langone said of Christie’s doubters. “I could say I’m going to kick King Kong’s ass, but you won’t know until I’ve done it. They could say the sky is going to come up yellow tomorrow. I am going to work my ass off to make sure that Chris Christie never needs money.”

Many others on Wall Street are less optimistic. They may like and admire Christie, and might even support him in a scenario without Romney and Bush, but they now don’t see a path for the New Jersey governor.

“I think Christie is the odd man out right now. He’s in serious trouble,” said one senior Wall Street executive, echoing remarks made by a dozen others who requested anonymity as not to anger Christie. Wall Street executives also are not inclined to criticize Christie on the record because their firms often do business with the state of New Jersey. Another executive said of Christie: “I like him, and under other circumstances, I could support him. But not with Mitt and Jeb in the race. And Christie has so many other issues.”