New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pulled out of the GOP race today, after his weak showing in New Hampshire’s primary yesterday. Now he can resume doing what he loves best (see photo below).
“The New Jersey governor made the decision after a conference call with major donors, concluding that he did not have the financial support to continue his campaign …. Christie spent significant campaign resources on the New Hampshire primary … [but] finished with just single-digit support, behind Donald Trump, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and Rubio. After a poor showing in Iowa, Christie is the only candidate left running who has so far accumulated zero delegates.”
Mother Jones observes Christie “may have dealt a mortal blow to Sen. Marco Rubio’s campaign” in the last debate, but Rubio’s weaknesses (he can’t think on his feet, and suffers panic attacks) probably would have caught up with him sooner or later. Christie never was competitive, but Rubio was the candidate everyone counted on to stop Trump, and if he gets knocked out of the race, that may breathe new life into Bush’s campaign. But Trump looks more and more like the probable GOP nominee, and Carson’s making veep noises this morning. On the Democratic side, the odds still strongly favor Clinton, but as Yogi Berra famously said, “it ain’t over until it’s over.”