It May Be Ted Cruz Week At CPAC But Today Is Chris Christie Day

Always one of the craziest media circuses on the calendar, CPAC opens today at National Harbor, Maryland. Chris Christie waddled up to the podium about an hour late-- after lead-off candidates Ted Cruz, who talked about term, limits, "petrotyrants" (though not the Koch brothers) and abolishing the IRS, and Paul Ryan, who talked about being Irish. Although he conspicuously not invited last year-- too kissy-kissy with the demonized Obama-- the martyrdom of being caught breaking the law has made him a much sought after celebrity in Crazy Conservative World this year. He joins other 2016 presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio. (Saturday they have a straw poll to pick the GOP nominee.)

As Christie's political fortunes have fallen, he's backed away from his opportunistic relationship with Obama and gone on the attack against him. pleasing right-wing extremists and racists in his own party's base. Today he promised the CPAC wing nuts that his embrace of Obama was just a marriage of convenience and that they're divorced now. He paid lip-service to all the rote points Republican candidates are supposed to make: anti-Choice; bad, media, bad; Obamacare; and class war. He got more applause than Paul Ryan. 

Already reelected in Blue Jersey, he had no problem dishing out the red meat for the drooling base-- and credulous-- base. Going into the speech this morning, Christie was aware of a Washington Post/ABC News poll that shows how badly Christie's brand has eroded among Republicans since the George Washington Bridge scandal started being exposed on national media. The headline: "As conservatives gather in the Washington area on Thursday for three days of speeches from prospective 2016 presidential candidates and discussions about the future of the GOP, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that three in 10 of all Republicans say they would not vote for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie if he ran for the White House… Christie topped the list of candidates who conservative Republicans said they definitely would not support, with 35 percent of that group saying so. Disaffection with the governor among conservative Republicans was far higher than for any other potential candidate tested, with Huckabee next, at 22 percent."

Christie’s fortunes have ebbed and flowed over the past few months. After winning re­election handily in the fall, the governor was touted as the favorite of the GOP establishment to lead the party in 2016. He was considered a straight-talking Republican who knew how to attract support in a heavily Democratic state.

Since then, he has been badly damaged politically by the controversy over a four-day traffic snarl in September that appears to have been ordered by his aides and advisers as political retribution. Christie fired those directly involved and said he had no direct knowledge of the incident when it happened. He is facing two investigations, one by the state legislature and the other by U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.

The poll does not provide information that could distinguish how much Christie’s problems are a result of the controversy and how much they reflect general skepticism toward him among conservatives.

Just 9 percent of Republicans say they definitely would vote for Christie, while 50 percent say they would consider doing so. Eleven percent say they have no opinion.

The 30 percent of Republicans who say they definitely would not vote for Christie is the highest percentage for any Republican tested. Next was former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, at 24 percent, followed by 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney at 23 percent, Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 21 percent, Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) at 20 percent and Bush at 18 percent.

Romney has the most definite support among Republicans, at 34 percent, followed by Bush and Huckabee at 15 percent each. Two other Republicans, Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Rand Paul (Ky.), scored in the low double digits on the percentage of Americans who say they definitely would vote for them.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has the lowest percentage (12 percent) of Republicans saying they definitely would not vote for him, but he is by far the least known of the group within the party, with nearly a third of all Republicans saying they have no opinion about him as a presidential candidate.

…Among conservative Republicans, who make up about two-thirds of the party and who play a significant role in primaries, Christie’s problems are more acute. Just 8 percent of them said they definitely would vote for Christie for president. Only Perry fared worse, at 7 percent.