Check out this great article by Charles Stile of the Bergen Record:
Steve Lonegan, principal prankster of the Republican Party’s Antics Wing, is not intimidated by talk that Christopher J. Christie, the United States attorney for New Jersey, is pondering a run for governor next year.
Mere mention of “Big Boy” — President Bush’s nickname for Christie — quickens the pulse of party insiders. But to Lonegan, the former Bogota mayor, and his lieutenants, Christie’s name makes their blood boil.
“Christie is like Sonny Liston — all talk, no action,” said Rick Shaftan, political consultant for Lonegan, referring to the lumbering heavyweight boxer of the early 1960s.
In Shaftan’s view, Lonegan will be the Cassius Clay of next year’s Republican primary, the upstart who defied oddsmakers by clobbering Christie like an overrated Goliath in the early rounds. “He’ll be a 10-1 favorite, walk into the ring, fall down, mumble something and disappear,” Shaftan said.
Lonegan declined to speak for himself on Monday, leaving the pre-fight sparring to Shaftan and others. Lonegan, who has formed an exploratory committee, is expected to formally launch his own campaign for governor next Monday, so perhaps he’s holding fire for the television cameras.
Still, Shaftan’s swagger is not far removed from typical Lonegan bombast. It’s a little hard to take seriously, given Lonegan’s most recent claim to fame was getting arrested outside a public hearing on Governor Corzine’s toll plan. Christie, by comparison, has locked up and sent more than 130 corrupt public officials to jail.
But the Loneganites’ opening salvos are borne out of confidence. Lonegan, they say, is an unreconstructed, free-market conservative who has led crusades in the court and in the ballot box to curb wasteful government spending.
Lonegan is a known Republican brand. And Christie? He can certainly lay claim to the “R” after his name, but “R&D” might be more appropriate – a Republican still in the research and development phase. His impeccable, corruption-busting resume is something to be admired, the Loneganites admit, a great talking point for a speech at the American Bar Association convention. It might even prompt a standing ovation.
But will it be enough to win a Republican primary, where conservative stalwarts size up the candidate’s tax-cutting street cred?
Lonegan & Co. doubt it. Party
regulars are hungry for a change, for smaller government that doesn’t waste its money. They don’t trust the pillars of the “moderate” Republican establishment whom they see as capitulators to Trenton’s tax-and-spend culture, not cost cutters. Liberals in disguise.
“People want to throw the Democrats out. People are looking for the opposite of Jon Corzine,” Shaftan said.
Shaftan is a seasoned hand from New Jersey’s conservative base, quick on his feet, sharp with his rhetoric. But I think it is foolish to dismiss Christie as an empty tabla rasa whose political resume will be filled by milquetoast, focus-group-tested pap. In the age of Obama, where a thin resume is perceived as an asset, Christie has the advantage of building a platform and casting a fresh image before his rivals do.
That could mean crafting a political-policy portrait that, with some exceptions, is similar to Lonegan’s.
And, although Lonegan is known as a conservative, he is also known for his stunts – the 3,000-pound fiberglass pig on a trailer wheeled around Bergen County this spring to illustrate his war on Trenton’s waste. That might get a chuckle, but voters with grim countenances want a coherent strategy to restart the state’s economy.
I also think it foolish to assume that Christie will quickly fold. Skeptics dismissed Christie as a lightweight with no court-room credentials when he became the U.S. Attorney in 2001. Seven years later, he transformed the office into a corruption-busting tour de force. His investigations reshaped the political landscape in New Jersey, and prompted a reluctant State House to embrace long-overdue ethics reforms.
Christie has declined to talk about the 2009 race until he officially leaves his post next week. So William Palatucci, his former law partner, “defended” his friend on Monday.
“All of this stuff is premature,” Palatucci said. “Let’s wait and see even if he is a candidate. I would remind, Republican voters and the voters at-large want a substantive, intelligent debate and not a lot of name calling from paid political consultants.”
Christie is expected to take most of next month and possibly part of January to explore his options. New Jersey may very well see a vigorous bout between Big Bombast and Big Boy. And we may see an even bigger free-for-all — Assemblyman Rick Merkt, a Republican from Morris County, is also jumping into the fray.
It’s too early to predict a winner. But voters will likely find one casualty on the canvas — the battered New Jersey Republican Party.
