By Michael Aron
Chief Political Correspondent
There was a buoyancy in Chris Christie as he spoke to New Jersey’s business community yesterday. Although he is still stuck at two percent in the Iowa polls, in New Hampshire he is rising.
In the CNN/WMUR poll he is in third place with nine percent behind Donald Trump and Marco Rubio. Public Policy Polling has him fourth in New Hampshire with 10 percent.
Christie’s chief political strategist is Mike DuHaime. NJTV News caught up with him at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers where he teaches a class. He thinks the campaign is in good shape.
“I feel like it’s going very well right now. We’ve got a sense of momentum in New Hampshire and elsewhere. We continue to see the governor’s favorability ratings go up, and just yesterday there was a poll that had the governor in third place in New Hampshire, that’s the second poll in a week that had good news for the governor really jumping up in New Hampshire and heading into that top tier. So feeling very good right now about how things are,” he said.
DuHaime says the Paris attacks and the San Bernardino massacre have played to Christie’s strength and experience prosecuting terrorism cases.
Christie’s viral video on addiction is another factor, as are the many local endorsements he has racked up in New Hampshire.
His verbal skirmish with Donald Trump this week, triggered by Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims, only raises his profile, DuHaime says.
“It illustrates the fact that the governor is a more serious contender now than people thought a few months ago. Whether it’s Doanld or others taking shots at the governor, it just illustrates the fact that he’s on the move,” DuHaime said.
On his monthly radio show last night, Christie sounded like a man feeling his oats and reverting to a guilty pleasure, attacking New Jersey Democrats.
“Who’s he? Who elected him? He’s making policy now for the whole state?” Christie said about Senator Paul Sarlo.
When asked by a caller if there any hope of New Jersey becoming like other states that have looser laws on open carry or conceal and carry, he said, “Well, John, I can tell you this, with some of the liberal lunatics we have in this Legislature, like Loretta Weinberg…” Christie said.
“I saw a picture the other day of a huge black bear in his backyard in Mount Olive. I mean this is a really bad problem. We have to get all over it. Of course the environmental nuts like Jeff Tittel, you know, don’t want us to do anything like that, you know, because he’s got a better idea. He always has a better idea,” he said.
“So here’s my question to Steve and his crack staff,” Christie said. “Is obviously listening to the show and sending out press releases as we speak. They should spend more time actually trying to give him a coherent policy, then they should turning out these policies, whoever Luke Margolis is, the old guy from News 12. Yeah, he was really smart when he was there, too,” Christie said.
“The natural kind of feeling of optimism that comes with good news and good poll numbers, there’s no doubt that every candidate feels that. Sometimes we forget they are human beings, but he’s been a happy warrior throughout,” DuHaime said.
It’s clear the Christie campaign has made gains the past three weeks. What’s not clear is how sustainable they are. One thing is certain. Despite many declarations to the contrary, Christie is not dead yet.