Here We Go: Chris Christie To Enter 2016 Race

Daniel Doherty | June 30, 2015 8:45 AM

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who spent three years as president of his high school class, is returning to his alma mater to announce he's running for president of his country.

The Republican governor is set to launch his campaign Tuesday in the old gymnasium of Livingston High School in the town of Livingston, New Jersey, where he experienced some of his first political victories. Christie remains close to many of his former classmates, who had inklings even then that a career in politics was in his future.

Christie, who was strongly urged to run for president in 2012, perhaps missed the political opportunity of his lifetime when he decided not to. And unfortunately for him, scandals, persistent economic struggles at home, and sagging approval ratings have not aided his presidential dreams four years later.

As a matter of fact, many Republican primary-goers simply refuse to hear him out:

[T]oday, a staggering 55 percent of Republican primary voters say that they cannot envision voting for Mr. Christie, according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll, a remarkable deficit from which to embark on a national campaign. The only candidate less palatable: Donald J. Trump, the bombastic developer-turned-reality television star.

With two pillars of his presidential run — his record and his judgment — looking wobblier than ever, Mr. Christie must build a campaign around his most raw and prodigious asset: his personality.

Agreed. And yet, as the governor of a blue state, Christie has already earned plaudits from moderate Republicans — and conservatives — for his plain-talking, no-nonsense style of governance. For example, he became a kind of hero on the right after telling a parent on live television “it’s none of your damn business” where he educates his children. He also famously told New Jerseyans to “get the hell off the beach” shortly before Hurricane Sandy hit, and even called the cast of the Jersey Shore “losers.” And so perhaps one aspect to like about Christie is that he handles hostile media, and ‘gotcha’ questions, remarkably well. He's also good on late-night television. Thus, if he can raise his profile and polling numbers a little bit after today, maybe Republicans will finally look past some of the more annoying and controversial things he's said and done in the past, respectively.