Once the Republican Party’s prohibitive 2016 frontrunner, speculation abounds as to whether New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will even chose to mount a campaign for the White House.

Christie lags behind a variety of prospective and announced Republican candidates in the polls of both the national GOP and the early state Republican primary electorates. According to The New York Times, a federal investigation into the 2013 lane closures on the George Washington Bridge is “coming to ahead” and may yield indictments. “Subpoenas have made it clear that the inquiry has gone beyond the lane closings to include possible conflicts of interest and bribery,” The Times reported. While few believe the governor will be personally implicated in wrongdoing by the federal investigation, officials close to him and his administration might be.

Facing this kind of adversity, some have begun to wonder whether the Garden State governor would subject himself to a campaign that, from the outset, he appears likely to lose.

But Christie isn’t out yet. “Christie has been presiding over town hall meetings statewide, including one here on Tuesday, which he proudly noted was his 134th since taking office,” The Washington Post’s Philip Rucker reported in a dispatch from Old Bridge, New Jersey. “Next week, he will take his road show to New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation primary state, where he will convene two town hall meetings on a ‘Tell It Like It Is’ tour.”

The format showcases Christie at what many Republican activists consider his best: direct and in charge, exerting command over disparate issues, and exhibiting little patience for bunk. As he warns his attendees at the start of each event, “If you give it, you are going to get it back.”

Rucker’s story centered on the exchange Christie had with on town hall participant, a 45-year-old teacher, who wondered why the governor’s “worst” and most combative side seems to be the one he most often shows to the press. “I’m not out here to be perfect,” Christie confessed. “But the one thing people never have to wonder about me is what I’m thinking.”

In the extensive answer he gave to the visibly nervous teacher, Christie demonstrated the “truth-teller” persona that he hopes will catapult him back into contention as the 2016 race looms ever larger in the minds of political reporters and voters alike. And while there is no filing deadline, the field of declared candidates is growing, the uncommitted Republican donor base is shrinking, and voters are beginning to make up their minds. If Christie hopes to win over town hall participants, GOP primary voters, and eventually the nation from the podium on the debate stage, he has to get into the race. And soon.

If he does, the conventional wisdom that suggests the window for Christie long ago closed could be quickly upended.

During a town hall held earlier this week, the governor was confronted by a Girl Scout who asked how Christie would change Washington D.C. For The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza, Christie’s extemporaneous response reflected what the governor was capable of, and what a formidable candidate he would be in the race for the White House.

“And, it’s why I can’t totally dismiss him as a factor in the presidential race,” Cillizza wrote.

Natural ability and a talent for communicating matter more in a presidential race than in any other contest. People are deciding, at some level, whether they trust and like you, whether they feel like you understand what their lives are like and will take that understanding to the highest office in the country.

Aside, maybe, from Marco Rubio, no one in the field has the pure talent that Christie does for communicating with voters. I’m not sure that ability can resurrect his chances given the problems his candidacy has endured even before he’s officially running. But it’s the reason I can’t — and I don’t think anyone should — write off Christie entirely just yet.

While time is fleeting, the race for the GOP nomination has barely just begun. If Christie were to jump into the ring, he would certainly be a formidable force. Given the governor’s slide in polls of Republican voters, however, securing the nomination remains an uphill climb. It is unclear whether Christie wants to take a big risk with limited prospects for a reward.