Reports: N.J. Governor Chris Christie will not seek presidency
Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey is expected to announce today that will not run for president, ending a period of intense courtship by Republican donors and party elders that exposed a lingering dissatisfaction with the current field of GOP presidential contenders.
Christie has scheduled a 1 p.m. press conference at the New Jersey State House in Trenton and ABC News and The Washington Post, both citing a source with direct knowledge of the governor’s thinking, are reporting that he will not run.
Christie had declared multiple times that he would not seek the presidency, but began quietly reconsidering his decision after private and public entreaties from influential Republican fund-raisers and party elders.
Among those who had reportedly encouraged him to run were Nancy Reagan, Henry Kissinger, Rupert Murdoch, and William Kristol. Barbara Bush reportedly called Christie’s wife, Mary Pat, to soothe her anxiety about a presidential campaign. And Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels declared last month that he was “not taking ‘no’” from his friend in Trenton.
The enthusiasm for a Christie candidacy was a reflection of his popularity among Republicans.
But it also underscored how the longtime frontrunner, Mitt Romney, has yet to win over a certain segment of the GOP elite, despite positioning himself as the consensus choice of that wing of the party.
Romney has raised more money than any other candidate in the field, emphasized his businesses background, released a 160-page jobs plan, and polls show the former Massachusetts governor would be the strongest contender against President Obama.
And yet, time and again, he has had to endure the awkward spectacle of Republican leaders pining for a new candidate to jump in the race. First, it was Daniels, then Texas Governor Rick Perry, and then Christie…