There always was a danger in Chris Christie portraying himself as Mr. Clean and basing almost the entirety of his campaign on this image. Allegations like this one and the questions that still surround his hiring of his former boss at the federal Justice Department, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, to a lucrative monitoring contract — should they stick in the public’s mind — have the potential to undercut his reputation, which is all he really has to run on.
One accusation is easily dismissed; a second becomes harder to ignore. If more of these questions are asked, well, then it becomes serious.
Let’s face it, Christie’s two chief virtues always have been his record as a lawman and the fact that he is not Jon Corzine at a time when it is not popular to be Jon Corzine.
He offers little on the budget — the state’s primary problem — offering vague promises to cut taxes and make tough decisions and then waiving off the tougher questions.
Corzine has his own problems — and not because the economy has worsened an already dire fiscal situation in the state. He’s not been nearly aggressive enough in challenging the status quo in Trenton, which has undercut his own promises to right the state’s fiscal ship.
Christie goes into the final three-plus months with a significant edge — those polls — but he’s no lock. He’s a Republican in a state that trends Democratic, running against a candidate with a seemingly endless supply of cash. If the squeeky clean rep gets tarnished, if he is seen as too socially conservative, and/or the public doesn’t buy his budgetary prescriotions, what now appears a foregone conclusion could become an upset.
Hank Kalet 