By Michael Aron
Chief Political Correspondent
For months Chris Christie’s name was largely omitted when the national commentators discussed who might win the Republican nomination.
For the past two weeks or so, he’s getting mentioned.
“You have to consider that Trump will be in it, Rubio will be in it, Cruz will be in it, Bush will be in it and maybe Christie. Those are the five. With all due respect to the other candidates. I could be wrong on that,” said Bill O’Reilly.
Another sign of Christie’s arrival is that other top tier candidates are attacking him, like an ad from Marco Rubio’s Super PAC.
Christie attacked back in the Washington Post, saying Rubio can’t slime his way to the White House, but his response TV ad takes the high road.
We asked Nick Acocella of Politifax where Christie is now in the race.
“Conventional wisdom is it’s never good to be the front-runner because people are all going to attack you. But that conventional wisdom is not the window because nobody’s attacking Donald Trump, and the four guys in the other lane, the mainstream lane, are ganging up on Christie. They must regard him as the front-runner, or the establishment candidate. I’d rather be where he is than where the other three are,” Acocella said.
The latest national poll does not reflect that. Reuters has Christie in sixth place, still hovering around three percent. But in New Hampshire, his standing is rising and inviting attack.
“I just feel great about what’s happening up here and I also think that things are starting to workout well for us in Iowa, as well. That’s why I think you’re seeing people shoot at us. This isn’t my first rodeo, as you know. Jon Corzine spent $33 million in ads against me in 2009. A lot of these guys have never been in a tough race. This is just another day at the ranch for me,” Christie said on Morning Joe.
He was in New Hampshire this morning, expected back in New Jersey tonight. He has a State of the State address to deliver Tuesday, and it’s hard to anticipate what he might talk about.
“I have been watching Chris Christie now for 20-odd years, since he didn’t get reelected freeholder. The only thing I can say is expect the unexpected. He likes throwing bombs. The bomb, I don’t know what it’s going be, but it’s going to be something none of us could have predicted. That’s my prediction,” Acocella said.