Chris Christie is very decisive, in that he spends a lot of time
deciding and redeciding his mind (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
It's the morning, and I just woke up a few minutes ago, so you know what that means, right?
Yep! Yet another story about how Chris Christie might or might not be finally getting off the pot:
Gov. Chris Christie is seriously rethinking his months of denials and may launch a campaign for the White House after all, a source close to the governor said tonight.
In the last week, Christie has been swayed away from his earlier refusals to run by an aggressive draft effort from a cadre of Republicans and donors unhappy with the GOP field, said the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity
According to my sources, it's a 50-50 scenario: either he does, or he doesn't. Of course, those are the same people who told me you have a 50-50 shot of hitting a inside straight on the river. (Turns out, you have less than a 10% chance of getting that magic card, but I digress.)
Anyway, I did notice something that I think is actually interesting about all this Chris Christie speculation, and it was Rush Limbaugh's take on why Christie would run:
RUSH: My gut tells me that he's not going to run. Same thing with Sarah Palin, by the way.
CALLER: Okay.
RUSH: I don't think either of them are going to run this cycle.
CALLER: I think he would sharpen Mitt Romney.
RUSH: Um... (sigh) If he ran, it would be to take out Perry and Bachmann and Cain and Santorum. That would be the purpose. Thanks for the call.
I know you'll be shocked by this, but I actually agree with Limbaugh here. If Christie did run, it would be because the GOP establishment decided that he was their last, best hope of taking out Perry, Bachmann, and Cain. But now that Romney has enjoyed a bit of a comeback, I suspect the GOP establishment doesn't think Christie is their last best hope: they believe Romney is.
So why all the Christie chatter? Well, part of it is obviously that it gives the media something to talk about. Part of it is probably that some Republicans are smart enough to realize what a flawed candidate Mitt Romney is, and honestly would like Christie to be the establishment's standard-bearer. And another big part of it is that all the talk about Christie is denying oxygen to Cain and Perry while taking the heat off Mitt Romney.
Of course, I could be completely wrong about all this. The odds are 50-50, after all.