Chris Crispy-Creme-Christie has left the building. He’s done. Finished. Fini. No longer will he run for President. He’s still running (to be Nikki Haley’s AG if you are familiar with my presidential campaign conspiracy theory), and he still has campaign money to burn. And he’ll do almost anything to stop Mr. Trump.
That’s why he dropped out, or so he says.
He polled fifth in Iowa, fifth (ish) nationally, but third in New Hampshire. Polling third in New Hampshire in any contest can take you places, but he has decided to bail.
I think it is safe to say that anyone who would support Chris Christie will likely not migrate to Trump. That leaves Haley and DeSantis (Christie supporters will not sidle over to Vivek).
The Daily Caller reports that,
“I’ve always said that if there came a point in time in this race where I couldn’t see a path to accomplishing that goal that I would get out, and it’s clear to me tonight that there isn’t a path for me to win the nomination, which is why I’m suspending my campaign tonight for president of the United States,” said Christie. “It’s the right thing for me to do. Because, I want to promise you this — I am going to make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be president of the United States again.”
Christie had been facing pressure from Republican Gov. Chris Sununu to drop out of the race so that the non-Trump field could consolidate around former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, whom he endorsed in mid-December.
Okay, but I’m stickin’ to my theory. Christie was always a bad cop to Nikki’s good cop. Even when Christie “went after her” on “the campaign trail,” it was to criticize her. It was about the willingness to be Terump’s VP if he claimed the nomination and asked. That’s not exactly a blistering attack. And Christie’s departure – which won’t do much for anyone but Trump in Iowa, leaves 12 polling points on the table, give or take, in New Hampshire.
If the lying liars can be believed, that could put her over Trump in the Granite State if they all chose darling Nikki, but nowhere else. And Gov Chris (NJ) isn’t asking them to vote for DeSantis. I’d rather they did, but Haley has the momentum. She’s got good messaging. You can’t blink without seeing an ad on TV, and the glossy mailers with her name on them are piling up like snow during a New England Nor’easter.
Haley could do well in New Hampshire and South Carolina absent Christie, but the rest of the map is not in her favor. Not yet. And time is running out.
