By Michael Aron
Chief Political Correspondent
State Senator and Middlesex County Republican Chairman Sam Thompson thinks being on the undercard could work to Christie’s advantage, “when you have 10 people on the stage it’s not really a debate. And in the previous debates he’s been lucky if he’s had 3 minutes in 2 hours. It’s very difficult to convey a message in 3 minutes.”
Monmouth University Poll Director Patrick Murray sees possible opportunity for Christie in the 2nd tier debate, “he might be able to make some lemonade out of this. He’s going to be the biggest personality on that first stage, even though a lot of people will not tune in, very low ratings compared to the main debate, but with Chris Christie you know it’s all about the YouTube moments, about the buzz that comes out afterwards.”
Christie has not complained once publicly about being relegated to the so-called kids table. Ever the politician, he has put the best possible face on it, as he did with Megyn Kelly last night, “I think people want to see you tested because the Presidency is an enormous test every day. So what I’ve said to people is, I don’t want this to be easy. I’m going to fight real hard, because I want to be President, so you go and you fight. It has to be humbling. The whole process is humbling.”
On Reporters Roundtable this past weekend the consensus was that being relegated is a blow but not fatal. “He’s doing what he has to do and saying this doesn’t bother him, and it is a bit of a blow of course but it’s also an opportunity because from what we know of his charisma and personality and that of the other 3 that are going to take part, they’re in trouble,” said Kevin McArdle, Townsquare Media/NJ101.5.
“Well, let’s see, you got a stage that has Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum and Bobby Jindal. I have a gut feeling that Chris Christie is going to be the biggest star out of that cast,”said Murray.
“In fact, if you do well on the undercard, when the main debate starts later they’ll be talking about how well Christie or someone did on that debate. They’ll get a lot of coverage on the main debate talking about what they did down there if they did well,” said Thompson.
“There’s no question that this is a bad development, not being on the main stage, not being seen as a top tier is a story line that he has to contend with. But it’s a long process, and Chris Christie has shown in the past he is able to take a bad story line and flip it around to his advantage,” Murray continued.
“If he gets his message out with the added coverage and added time he’ll get here, he could well score bigger than he could on the main stage,” said Thompson.
Christie will have an hour tonight to get that break-out moment. The fact that it’s in the so-called kids debate doesn’t matter if he says something that gets played over and over again tomorrow.