Chris Christie has descended upon the home of the first-in-the-nation caucuses:
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he’s not running for president, but he’s still leaving an imprint on the 2012 Republican campaign as a potential kingmaker — and distraction.
His visit to Iowa on Monday is evidence of both.
Christie is swooping in to speak at an education conference in Des Moines and headline a political fundraiser for a congressman.
As Gop12.com’s Christian Heizne has pointed out, Christie almost certainly means it when he says that he’s not going to run: he’s painted himself into a corner by not only denying that he’s ready to be president, but by saying that it would be wrong of him to do so when it would deny him the opportunity to spend time with his children during their formative years. It’s one thing to say that you’ve heard the call of duty and now find that you have the fire in your belly (hello, Rick Perry), but it’s quite another to say that you’ve magically acquired the necessary extra experience just three months after saying that you were honestly weren’t ready.
It’s more likely that Christie, as news articles are increasingly pointing out, is trying to keep himself in the spotlight to play the role of kingmaker — and to position himself as a leading candidate for 2016, should he win re-election in two years.
Christie’s not running. He should, but he won’t.
