It was a less combative more contemplative Chris Christie than we’ve seen in recent months. The governor was interviewed last night by Steve Adubato on a program produced by Caucus Educational Corporation and carried live on NJTV. He tackled topics from sports betting to Bruce Springstein to Jeb Bush, reserving his criticism for President Obama. NJTV News Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron discussed the conversation with Anchor Mary Alice Williams.
Throughout the interview, Adubato and Christie discussed a variety of topics. About halfway through the interview, Adubato asked Christie about a possible presidential run.
“Three things — is it right for me, is it right for my family, is it right for the country?” Christie said about how he will make his decision. “Me, my family, the country. And if I answer yes to all three of those things, then I’ll run. If I don’t answer yes to all three, then I won’t.”
Throughout the interview, Adubato asked Christie about Jeb Bush. Aron also said that Bush is a friend of Christie’s and that during the interview Christie said that he does not make decisions based on who else will run in the presidential race.
Aron said that Christie’s persona is one thing that people assess when discussing a Christie presidential run. He said that they want to know whether Christie would say, “Sit down and shut up” on the national stage. Aron said that prompted a whole second line of questioning about whether Christie’s brashness is what Americans want in a president.
When asked if he would consider changing his demeanor, Christie said, “No, why would I? It’s who I am. I mean if people want somebody different than me, if I ever ran for president, then they would vote for somebody different. But I don’t intend to become a phony to win an election. Well, if I’m not acting who I am, that’s what I would call you.”
“And you know what’s the most important thing about this, when you decide to vote for someone — do you know them? Who are they? Are they trying to fool you or are they giving you who they are? Nobody thinks I’m trying to fool them,” Christie said.
According to Aron, the most newsworthy part of the interview occurred when Christie said that the median income taxpayers in the state pay the lowest income taxes of any state in the nation.
At the end of the hour, Adubato said, “You love this job but you’re thinking about the other job,” which prompted Christie to get a bit reflective.
“I’ve got to decide what I want to do with the rest of my life,” said Christie. “It’s an interesting time for me. I’m 52 years old. You start to think about what you want to spend the rest of your life doing and I got to make that decision and I’ve said to everybody — I’ll make that decision the first part of next year. And if it means pursuing the presidency, then we’ll do it the same way we’ve always done everything. And if it doesn’t, then we’ll finish the job as governor and we’ll decide what we’re going to do next to support my family.”
While many think Christie is definitely running, Aron said that there still is a possibility that Christie might bow out saying that his kids don’t want him to run.