Former Governor Kean Says Christie Seriously Considering Presidential Bid
Former Governor Thomas Kean told the National Review that Governor Chris Christie is seriously considering a run for President.
Former New Jersey governor Tom Kean, who has known Chris Christie since he was a teenager and remains an informal adviser, tells National Review Online that the governor is “very seriously” considering a presidential bid.
“It’s real,” Kean says. “He’s giving it a lot of thought. I think the odds are a lot better now than they were a couple weeks ago.”
Christie remains undecided, Kean says, but is listening closely to pleas from party leaders. The chance for a “Jersey guy” to rise, Kean says, is not something Christie has sought. But now, with the field up for grabs, he is actively mulling a late entry.
“More and more people are talking to him,” Kean says. “He’s getting appeals from major figures around the country.” Kean, for his part, is also encouraging the first-term Republican to jump in. “He is the best speaker I may have ever heard in politics,” he tells me.
“In an era when most people suspect that politicians read polls and then tell you what they think, people don’t believe he’s that kind of a fellow,” Kean says. “He tells you what he thinks, period. We like that around here.”
“A lot of people are not satisfied with the field,” Kean says. “I know he’s getting advice from all sides.” In coming days, “he’s not going to tease anybody.” If circumstances do change — and Kean makes no predictions — “he’s not going to hide it.”
Christie is on a multi-state fund raising tour this week, raising money for the NJ GOP and other state parties. He is speaking at the Reagan Presidential Libray tonight.
The New York Post is reporting that former First Lady Barbara Bush has reached out to Christie’s wife, Mary Pat , to assure her that the Christie children and family could thrive in the White House.
The Post said that appeals from major figures around the county for Christie to get into the race stepped up during the GOP debate in Florida last week.
In New Jersey, Christie’s approval ratings are strong, according to a FDU Public Mind poll released this morning. The governor’s approval ratings are positive 54%-36%. The gender gap has narrowed on Christie who is now favored by women by 46%-42%.
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I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Chris Christie broke his 101 previous promises not to run for President in 2012 and, instead, decided to do just that. Chris Christie is not an honest man.
When he ran for Governor, Chris Christie promised — again, 101 times — that he would not increase taxes. He then turned around and did just that when he approved a huge toll increase for all Port Authority (PA) crossings between NJ and NY. As a result, a trucker (often a small businessman) crossing the George Washington bridge will see that cash toll rise from $40 to $90 over a 4 year period, a 125% increase. ($90 to cross a bridge? Tell me again that Chris Christie is a fiscal conservative.)
Christie and his cheerleaders can call a toll increase a “user fee” until they are blue in the face. It doesn’t make it so. A toll increase is a tax increase and it certainly hurts commuters and small business owners alike. It also hurts citizens that never or rarely pay Port Authority tolls. Almost everything that New Jerseyans own was once on a truck. Trucking companies will certainly pass along the cost of this toll (tax) increase to the consumers (all of us). Small business owners that often cross PA bridges and tunnels will do the same. All of us will pay higher prices because of this tax increase that Chris Christie could have stopped merely by not approving the Port Authority’s plan to increase tolls/taxes. Chris Christie alone could have stopped this toll/tax increase. He chose not to do just that.
Christie lied. Character counts.
Truckers insulted by 125 percent tax increase in NY-NJ
Jimmy Fallon with Chris Christie on chances he’ll run for president
Promises Promises should the Governor allow the bridges and tunnels to simply collapse to prove he is a fiscal conservative. Please tell me how else to you fix a tunnel or a bridge without money.
As a person who does not use these tunnels and bridges often I am glad that I dont have to pay for something I dont use!
The governors of New York and New Jersey should have demanded an audit before raising tolls. Instead, they demanded an audit AFTER the imposition of higher tolls. Which by the way extend into 2014. There is much waste and mismanagement–the savings revealed from an audit could have lessened or better yet, postponed the toll hike until better economic times. These are not the times to increase taxes or tolls.
[…] former Governor Tom Kean, a Christie mentor since childhood, told the National Review that the governor was seriously considering entering the race. Posted: September 27th, 2011 | Author: ArtGallagher | Filed under: 2012 Presidential Politics | […]