New Jersey governor Chris Christie has been perhaps the most visible campaign surrogate for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, making the case that Romney is the most electable Republican in the race and pushing hard for the man he endorsed after declaring, once again and finally, that he wouldn't run himself. Now, Christie is starting to campaign himself for an election that is more than 18 months out—in November 2013. In a funny and very clever ad that began running statewide today, his second so far, Christie touts his recent tax cut proposal and reminds voters that he is the man who came in and cleaned up a mess in New Jersey.
CLARIFICATION: The ad is being run by a 501c4 called "Campaign for Our Children's Future." And while it's funded by people supportive of Christie, it is not a Christie campaign ad.
“If we don’t succeed, I probably won’t be re-elected. If I’m not re-elected, you’re not gonna have somebody who does the kinds of things I do, who actually believes in government, and believes in unions at the same time.” — Gov. Dannel Malloy to union leaders on March 4.
Louisville Kentucky is one of just four states electing governors this year, and the race—pitting Democratic incumbent Steve Beshear against a Republican nominee to be chosen in a primary on May 17—will be colorful and could be close.
So, uh, this happened yesterday. In case you were wondering about how to shut up the confrontational Christie, you might try calling him "hot and sexy":
Having utterly failed to convince the American people to embrace Obamacare, and facing a steadfast House of Representatives that has passed a bill to repeal Obamacare by a margin of 56 votes, the Obama administration — always probing for weakness — is now testing the resolve of Republican governors. So far, the verdict is mixed.
Last week, Congressional Republicans wrote a new chapter in government reform, convening a meeting in Washington with 16 newly elected GOP governors. To some, the confab looked like just another photo-op celebrating the party’s historic gains in last month’s midterm elections.
While the biggest election news for Republicans is the party's takeover of the House of Representatives, the GOP had a great showing in governor's and state legislature races. Republicans won a total of 23 governorships on Tuesday, nearly double the number of Democratic wins (the New York Times has not officially called Minnesota, Illinois, and Connecticut). Additionally, 9 of those 23 gubernatorial victories were in states Obama carried in 2008: Florida, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
I had the pleasure of traveling to California last week, a place D.H. Lawrence once described as “crazy sensible” because its people think about “just the moment: hardly as far ahead as carpe diem.”
Here’s an e-mail from Alex Vuckovic, a TWS reader from Massachusetts who was way ahead of the curve last December when he wrote to say that, yes, Scott Brown could win. He has some advice for the Republican gubernatorial candidate in his state, and it seemed worth passing on:
New Jersey voters took a stand on school spending and property taxes Tuesday, rejecting 260 of 479 school budgets across 19 counties, according to unofficial results in statewide school elections.
