Facebook friend to drop by Trenton
Gov. Christie is like that always-on-vacation Facebook friend of yours - the one who serially uploads smiling selfies from faraway places.
Gov. Christie is like that always-on-vacation Facebook friend of yours - the one who serially uploads smiling selfies from faraway places.
Hello from Epping, New Hampshire!
Can you believe I'm here in Waukee, Iowa?
The governor's relentless updates, Tweets, Instagram images, viral videos, and Morning Joe guest appearances may help some of us back home feel connected to the Garden State's nomadic presidential candidate.
At least, in a smartphone sort of way.
But virtual reality isn't the same as being physically present, on the job and, you know, really governing New Jersey.
That's something Christie will be doing, for a change, on Tuesday, as he takes a detour from the campaign trail, drops by the Statehouse, and delivers the 2016 State of the State address.
The governor seems unlikely to describe a New Jersey recognizable to anyone who actually lives here - the state we residents see struggling with pension, transportation, and casino gambling crises, among others.
Instead we'll probably be pitched the reality show version: Unruly Blue State gets rescued from Democratic/totalitarian ruination by a charismatic teller of tough truths.
A campaign speech, in other words - like countless others Christie has offered, with admirable if not remarkable stamina, across New Hampshire and Iowa.
His 2016 road show has yielded the occasional coup, such as the famously hard-to-please Union Leader newspaper's endorsement. But more typically, his campaign issues press releases of mini-victories such as "Linn County Republican Leaders Curt and Norma Hames Endorse Chris Christie for President."
Christie is thereby ubiquitous for people who pay attention to pre-presidential primary festivities (mostly politicos, journos, and the similarly afflicted).
But to more typical Garden State residents, the governor is nowhere to be seen - particularly compared with his early years crisscrossing the state and polishing his national brand at 130-plus "town hall" meetings.
In 2015, Christie was physically out of New Jersey during all or part of 261 days - nearly three quarters of the year.
No wonder his New Jersey job approval ratings are under water. A Rutgers-Eagleton poll in December found 62 percent of the state's registered voters disapprove of the governor's performance.
Meanwhile, the view of New Jersey from afar also is deteriorating.
Donald Trump, whose Atlantic City legacy is perhaps best summed up by the garish high-rise hulk of the defunct Trump Plaza casino hotel, has declared the state an economic wastescape.
And last week, two super-PAC commercials for Marco Rubio, whose family joined the Christies for ice cream while at Mitt Romney's New Hampshire hideaway last summer, alleged that the New Jersey governor has literally and figuratively embraced President Obama.
One of the Rubio ads also brought up the Bridgegate "scandal", a slap that led Christie to suggest his erstwhile ice cream pal would not be able to "slime" his way to the White House.
I doubt Christie's speech Tuesday will include that sort of bare-knuckled politicking; the event is the State of the State, not The Sean Hannity Show.
But all the recent nastiness (Obama is a "feckless weakling," etc.) does serve to remind New Jerseyans of the governor we fell in love/hate with a few years ago - the one capable of calling a U.S. military vet an "idiot."
Christie can deride Trump as an "entertainer" one minute, then turn around and jab at Rubio in a witty Tweet that references pop songstress Adele.
I just wish the governor would dish Rubio's ultra-fab footwear with, say, a Vine video parody of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walking."
Now that would be a real Jersey moment.
856-779-3845 @inqkriordan