Chris Weigant. writes in the Huffington Post that he doesn't think Chris Christie is DOA in the Republican primary, saying it is too early to know how much affect Bridgegate will have on his chances. The reality is that he never in my mind had a chance. He was doomed from the start.
There are structural reasons I believe he never had a chance.
New Jersey has a divided government with Democrats in control of both the Assembly and Senate. To get things done, he has to work with Democrats every day which means he must compromise. GOP primary voters don't like people who compromise with Democrats. Just look at all of the hard-core GOP office holders getting primaried and being called RINOs; Thad Cochran, Pat Roberts, RINOs? For God sakes, that is ridiculous.
Christie has to compromise with the Dems for another reason. He has to look like he can get things done. He is the take charge guy. He can break the impasse in DC because look he did it in Trenton. Before Bridgegate, that was going to get harder and harder. Immediately after being sworn in for his second term he is a lame duck and the Dems are going to be less scared of him. As 2016 draws closer, this will only increase. In addition, as 2016 draws closers, Dems are going to do everything they can to Fuck with him and his agenda. If they are smart, they will do this in subtle ways, ways that aren't quite as clear as shutting down 2 of 3 lanes of an on-ramp. These are machine Dems, and my guess is they are a lot better at dirty tricks than Mr. I know everything. The purpose of this will be to undercut his argument that he is a "get things done kinda guy".
There are also things that Christie has done, or supported that have pissed off a lot of Republicans. They have been mentioned before, but lets recap:
Supported equal in-state tuition for college age undocumented residence. RW interpretation, he supports amnesty.
Supported Medicaid expansion for NJ. RW interpretation-he is a big govment spender. And he has given cover to Obama.
Walked hand-in-hand with Obama on the Jersey shore after Sandy and right before the 2012 election.
Supported a Muslim for a position in the NJ government. RW interpretation, he is part of the Muslim Brotherhood.
LGBT: RW interpretation, Hasn't been strong enough in hating the Gays. Sure he vetoed that marriage bill, but what about a constitutional amendment deporting all of them with the undocumented, why hasn't he done that?
This is just a sampling. Add your apostate moves he has made in the comments if you like.
Now for the scandals:
Bridgegate: This has to play out in more detail to see where it goes.
Stronger than the Storm ads: dido here. This is at the beginning and will need to play out.
Loaning $50k to a subordinate while the Fed Prosecutor in Jersey while running for Governor. No "biggy" to some until you connect it to the Stronger than the Storm controversy that is brewing.
Sandy relief funds and how they were allocated. This one has also been brewing quietly on a back burner but is picking up a boil with the other things going on.
Other general nastiness with anyone who crosses him, see Mayor Fulop of Jersey City.
Pardon the analogy, it is honestly not a dig at Christies weight, but right now Christie is like a wounded whale in the ocean. He has some blood leaking, but it is just a trickle. It could possibly stop by itself and he will be fine. However, if it doesn't coagulate and he keeps bleeding, he will bleed to death. The bleeding will be more and more bad revelations.
However, he has another problem with his bleeding. He is drawing predators of all types: prosecutors investigating things, legislative committees investigating things, the media, and even people like you and me who have the Google thingy. In addition, he also has all the other people who want to be the GOP nominee who have teams of oppo researchers out there. For Christie, just like in the wild, they're all going to come in and take a bite out of him, one after the other. No single bite is deadly, but when it is all said and done, the carcass will sink to the bottom and no more Christie.
Some of the opposition, like Rick Santorum, have already taken bites at Christie. However, I think most will keep circling for now. The oppo teams will be busy, but they will let the other sharks do the attacking, and later the results of their own work will come out closer to the primaries and during them. Christie will be the prime target, and in my estimation, they will all go after him before they go after each other. Santorum and Gingrich scored some good points on Romney in Iowa and South Carolina. They had nothing compared with what is out there and could be on Christie. Also, if they had "coordinated" better, they could have hurt Romney even more.
I think there will be a more consolidated front from the hard right movement conservatives. I don't think they want another RINO. So they will make sure that they take out Christie first. Once that happens, things get interesting as to whom comes out on top.
My guess, it will be someone like Scott Walker. He is a true movement person, but doesn't come off as a nut to many, AND he knows that Wall Street pays the bills. I know he has his own issues, (John Doe) but if he isn't done in by that, he'll be the quiet one in the corner waiting for his moment to move. That will be when the others have exhausted and weakened themselves and each other.
2:17 PM PT: I forgot his personality disorders. He has many, but the one that will get him is the explosive disorder and anger mismanagement. Wait until he goes after someone at a town hall. He won't be John McCain gently correcting a little old lady. And the constant questions from the media? He loses it at them and it will be days for that coverage.