Mitt Romney is sitting pretty. Not only did he have another strong performance in the debate this week, but he now has the support of superstar Chris Christie—perhaps the most powerful ammo the candidate has earned since he started running for president back in, oh 2007 or so.
A conservative base favorite, Christie upset a lot of people when he announced last week he wouldn't seek the Republican presidential nomination for 2012. Enough even for SNL to blast Mitt Romney in its cold open last week for simply not being Christie.
In good news for Romney, and for the Republican party in general, it took Christie less than a week to decide to jump aboard Romney's bandwagon (insert obvious joke about Christie breaking the bandwagon here).
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"America cannot survive another four years of Barack Obama. And Mitt Romney is the guy we need, and we need him now," Christie said at an appearance with Romney. "He is just the best person that we have in our party right now, in this race, to be able to lead our country."
And he's right—Romney's the obvious choice (at least of the options) for the party's candidate—he's noncontroversial (except his membership in a cult, per Perry's camp), he's not one to throw out buzzwords such as change, hope, or 9-9-9 for that matter; he's straightforward and to the point; and has experience in the private and public sector. Plus, he looks good in a suit.
And most importantly, in this economy, he's not Obama.
But more interesting is how the endorsement affects Christie's future presidential prospects. Most obviously, Christie would be a dream pick for VP, adding character to Romney's perceived stiffness and giving him credibility with some of the Republican base that thinks he's too moderate.
Even if Romney's the GOP candidate and loses to Obama, Christie can build his case for being the best conservative pick for 2016, though he might have more stiff competition by then.
Regardless, the endorsement of the Republican darling is only an advantage for Romney—and for Christie himself, as Romney is the most sensible pick for him to endorse. And its importance only proves that Christie's name will be attached to the GOP shortlist (in one capacity or another) as much as it's attached to Dunkin Donuts. At the very least, we're guaranteed that his name will be popping up continuously on late-night TV for a long while. Cause those jokes just write themselves.
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