Voters will only know whether New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is a viable candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination when he is put to the test in New Hampshire. Until then, media talk of Christie as an "out-of-touch has-been" is worthless, writes Joe Scarborough in
Politico.
Scarborough, a former Republican congressman from Florida, is co-host of "Morning Joe" on MSNBC.
Commentators have
"picked apart" Christie's "management style" following the "miscues" that trailed him after his 2013 re-election. "Does Chris Christie seem prickly, out-of-touch, and temperamentally overmatched by the challenges of a long-running presidential campaign? Maybe," Scarborough wrote.
Sometimes candidates who seem ready for a presidential run, such as former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, turn out to be unable to withstand national campaigns. Others, like Bill Clinton, can overcome obstacle after obstacle to become not only viable candidates but highly successful presidents.
"The fact is you never know how a candidate and his family will respond to the rigors of a presidential campaign until they actually jump into the campaign," he wrote.
"All the
missteps from Trenton to 10 Downing Street won't mean a thing if Christie hits it out of the park in his first few New Hampshire town-hall meetings," wrote Scarborough. If that happens, commentators will be turn to writing about "The Christie Comeback."
"Will it happen? Who knows? But we will all get a better clue about whether it can happen or not when the governor has to handle that first curveball aimed at his head once this long political preseason finally comes to an end," Scarborough concluded.
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