Wednesday, November 04, 2009

HORSERACE

Big Vindication for Team Christie

The Republicans had a good, but not great night, but only one result made me leap out of my chair in the NRA News studio and dance around the room: Chris Christie’s win in New Jersey. (Video is here at 1:16 under the Wilcow Majority segment, but much of the running around the room was off-camera. Indulge me; the other fat guy in New Jersey who I’ve put my faith in, New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan, has been hit-and-miss so far this year.)

Christie’s victory — quintupling Christie Whitman’s margin — is a big vindication for a team that had been increasingly doubted in recent weeks — Christie, campaign manager Bill Stepien, Christie's campaign chairman State Sen. Joe Kyrillos (R., Monmouth), strategists Mike DuHaime and Maria Comella, as well as New Jersey GOP chair Jay Webber.

The coat-tails weren't quite as large as McDonnell's in Virginia, but it was still a good night for the GOP: Down ballot, Republicans picked up one State Assembly seat, won control of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders, and won Freeholder seats in Bergen, Passaic, and Cumberland counties.

Much of these past weeks, my e-mail box received messages from frustrated New Jersey conservatives, many lamenting that Christie was “blowing the race.” He was inevitably considered to be too defensive, too reactive, not focusing sufficiently on this issue or that issue. Throughout this, I noted that Christie was getting hammered by millions upon millions of negative ads, and that those attacks required responses, which took Christie off of his preferred messages and themes.

Well, it appears Team Christie had at least some idea of what they were doing. Considering Christie's win in usually Democratic counties like Middlesex and Gloucester, and his ability to run up high margins in traditionally GOP counties, it's hard to see many spots where they left potential Christie votes uncast. And we were right to keep an eye on Corzine’s miserable standing in polls all year, usually topping out at 42 percent; on Election Day, he had 45 percent. Much of the past few weeks, New Jersey Republicans told me that support for independent Chris Daggett would shrink significantly on Election Day. They were right; it’s harder to vote third-party in the actual voting booth than it is when a pollster calls.

Chris Christie enters his office with a huge plate of problems awaiting him; there are Augean stables to be cleaned out. But for him and his supporters, this is a moment to savor.

11/04 10:34 AMShare