Are You Going To Let Chris Christie Derail Hillary Clinton?

Rahm Emanuel was never a big fan of Hillary Clinton. Perhaps that's why he's been giving the thumbs up to his wealthy Wall Street supporters who want to write checks to Chris Christie's gubernatorial campaign, like hedge fund crook/billionaire Ken Griffin, one of Emanuel's top supporters. Christie's gubernatorial campaign is all about his presidential campaign in 2016.

The other day Ron Paul said "Christie has nothing to offer" conservatives and that if he's the GOP nominee, he wouldn't vote for him. But Christie does have something to offer. He's the only Republican who can come close to Hillary Clinton in the swing states. And he's being cheered on by a certain type of "Democrat"-- the Rahm Emanuel type and the Chris Matthews type, as well as Democrats-- like the party's political bosses in New Jersey-- who conflate politics with an opportunity for corruption and plundering.

Over the weekend, the NY Times did a profile of how the Christie presidential campaign is shaping up. Lots of right-wing predators who smell an opportunity to derail Hillary are pouring immense sums of money into his efforts-- first to beat Barbara Buono is New Jersey, then to beat fringier conservatives like Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul for the nomination and then to beat Hillary. A few savvy Democrats are starting to realize the time to stop Christie is now-- in blue, blue New Jersey, where Christie had little chance to win reelection before Hurricane Sandy made him look... better than what you might normally expect from a Republican. Democrats around the country are starting to take a second look at Buono and when they do, they realize she's a legitimate star who would make an outstanding governor for New Jersey-- and a welcome addition to the constellation of progressive Democratic leaders. Blue America endorsed her and you can contribute to her campaign here.

The Times highlights the oodles of cash pouring in from traditional far right sources-- like neo-fascist Rove-financier Harold Simmons-- and how he's trying to make headway among traditional Democratic groups, like Blacks, Hispanics and women with those resources-- and while he pleases the right-wing base by vetoing sensible reforms across the board, like a popular medical marijuana bill and an ever more popular assault weapon ban (that he had actually asked the state legislature to pass!).

His advisers, while saying the governor is focused on New Jersey, are aiming to run up a huge margin against his Democratic opponent and position Mr. Christie as a formidable figure among Republicans ahead of the next presidential primary.

At the Republican National Committee summer meeting in Boston last week, Mr. Christie and his aides repeatedly made the case that his re-election effort in heavily Democratic New Jersey this fall would offer a model for Republicans in the years ahead. And despite their claims to be focused only on 2013, his aides have also signaled to Republicans that the governor, if re-elected as expected, plans to begin visiting other states immediately after November.

Mr. Christie’s appearance at the twice-annual gathering of Republican state officials was significant. In addition to courting the conservative-leaning party activists, he met privately with two Republicans who could be helpful in a presidential race: Spencer Zwick, Mr. Romney’s well-connected chief fund-raiser, and Scott P. Brown, the former Republican senator from Massachusetts who is considering a Senate run in New Hampshire, which holds the first presidential primary. Already, Mr. Christie is assembling the kind of national fund-raising network that would be essential to a presidential campaign; some 35 percent of the $9 million he has raised for his re-election is from out of state, and he has held fund-raisers around the country, both in donor-rich enclaves like Palm Beach, Fla., and McLean, Va., and in Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Chicago and throughout California.

Thanks to his prominence, and the fact that New Jersey is one of only two states with contests for governor this year, Mr. Christie has been able to cultivate big donors around the country.

“Under the guise of his re-election, he’s able to meet these folks and say, ‘I need your help,’” Mr. Rove said. The governor has tapped some boldface contributors like the Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. But more important for his future ambitions are the checks he has gathered from loyal Republican givers like Mr. Simmons, the deep-pocketed Dallas political patron, and lesser-known local power players like Dax R. Swatek, an Alabama lobbyist.

“I wrote him a check because, first, I think, as a Republican in New Jersey doing what he’s been able to do is pretty damn impressive,” said Mr. Swatek, who is close to many of his state’s leading Republicans. “Secondly, looking at it long-term, the way the presidential map is, it is going to be very difficult for Republicans to win without going into some states that are purple and blue. To me, the guy can do it.”

Not all of Mr. Christie’s donors this year can be counted on to support him if he runs for president in 2016. But winning the backing of people like Mr. Swatek, who can raise money from a wide variety of sources, helps the governor reach potential presidential donors in other state capitals and business communities across the country.

Mike DuHaime, Mr. Christie’s chief strategist, has also reached out to Mercer Reynolds, a Cincinnati executive who is one of the Republican Party’s top contributors and was Mr. Bush’s finance chair in 2000. Earlier this month, Mr. Christie held a fund-raiser at a Las Vegas hotel owned by the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. Mr. Adelson and his wife, two of the biggest contributors to Republicans last year, were listed as co-hosts and each gave Mr. Christie the maximum contribution of $3,800.

Of course, the governor has a long way to go to prove to Republicans nationally that he can be the party standard-bearer, and some conservative activists are still smarting over his embrace of President Obama in the days after Hurricane Sandy.

And New Jersey voters may resent what they see as his exploiting state issues to appeal to the conservative wing of the national party. The governor recently vetoed $7.5 million in family planning spending and Friday vetoed three gun-control measures. Barbara Buono, his opponent in the governor’s race, frequently says he “would rather be campaigning in the cornfields of Iowa.” According to an analysis by Democrats, since last August Mr. Christie was outside of New Jersey for all or part of 91 days, or roughly 24 percent of the time. Mr. Christie emphasized that much of that out-of-state travel was for nonpolitical trips.

Senior Republicans who are familiar with Mr. Christie’s strategy say it is most closely modeled after Mr. Bush’s bid in 1998 for re-election as governor of Texas. The parallels are clear. Mr. Bush was considered a shoo-in for re-election to the governor’s office, but he and Mr. Rove became determined to win over Hispanic and black voters to demonstrate the governor’s broad appeal to a national audience. Mr. Bush won that race, with 68 percent of the vote, which included more than a third of the Hispanic vote, offering him a powerful credential when he ran for president two years later as “a different kind of Republican.”

This summer, Mr. Christie established a bilingual campaign office in Paterson, N.J., and spent $275,000 on a Spanish-language television ad. He has also announced a Hispanics for Christie coalition and is now running even among Hispanic voters against Ms. Buono, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released 10 days ago.

“He’s going to emphasize first trying to win a big re-election with a diverse coalition behind him,” Mr. Rove said.

Despite his lead, Mr. Christie is spending expansively to enhance his targeting of voters this year. While his core team is filled with fixtures of presidential politics-- including Mr. DuHaime, the ad man Russell J. Schriefer, the communications director Maria Comella and the campaign chairman, William J. Palatucci-- he has brought aboard a new Republican firm, Deep Root Analytics.

The group includes strategists from Mr. Bush’s 2004 campaign and the consultants who ran Mr. Romney’s data effort last year, and is helping Mr. Christie direct his advertising more precisely by determining what voters are watching on TV, and from that, deciding what ads to air and when. (Mr. Obama’s campaign used the same technology in 2012.)

“The unspoken element in the room is that this could potentially be a test of what works and what doesn’t” for a presidential contest, said a Republican with knowledge of the inner workings of the campaign who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid antagonizing Mr. Christie’s circle.

The timing gives Mr. Christie distinct advantages: If he prevails in November, he will be handed a big national platform-- the chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association. The position will give him a reason, and ample time, to travel the country, meet with activists and candidates, and raise unlimited money for the association, freed from federal and state regulations that limit him as governor from seeking contributions from those that do business with the state. Early primary states, including Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, are holding governors’ races next year, so Mr. Christie will surely visit. And he will ultimately get to play the role of political Santa Claus inside the Republican Party, distributing millions in campaign cash to grateful governors and would-be governors.

Even if Mr. Christie is well-positioned, however, skepticism toward him within the Republican base is still real. And, despite the warm reception he received in Boston, some resistance was apparent.

Democrats in New Jersey need to think carefully if they want to give Christie the opportunity to derail Hillary's campaign when they vote this coming November. And Democratic donors, both big and small, need to consider lending a helping hand to Buono's campaign against him. Despite tired media hacks like Chris Matthews declaring that Christie's reelection is a lock, New Jersey is a sensible blue state and a lot can happen in two and a half months to put Buono back on top. Please consider helping. New Jersey needs a progressive governor to clean up Christie's mess and America... well, isn't it time for the first woman president already?

Earlier today, Brad DeLong reminded Paul Krugman who reminded the rest of us about John Stuart Mill's dictum: "I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think any gentleman will deny it." What's that got to do with it? Everything. Just everything.

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