Since Chris Christie's landslide re-election as governor of New Jersey earlier this month, which has seen him confirmed as an early favorite for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, the question of the precise nature of his political personality, and its appeal, has loomed as large as the man himself.
Christie's achievement in winning 60 percent of the vote in a state won by Barack Obama in the presidential election has been underlined by the breadth of his vote. He attracted a far greater share than the Republican norm of Hispanic, black and women votes. And, since his win, both admirers and detractors have gone into high gear to dissect and explain the phenomenon of the former U.S. attorney and, as some see it, his "blunt charisma."
Just days after his re-elections, Democratic officials were outlining how they planned to try to put the brakes on Christie's momentum, not least by pointing out that, far from being a pragmatic "moderate," he is a solid conservative in the Bush-Romney mold. Others, prominent among them Colm O'Comartun, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association, have been more brutal. O'Comartun dismissed Christie as "personality-driven late-show entertainment" and a "vaudeville routine."