Gov. Chris Christie is cashing in donations from top Democratic fundraisers and other traditionally liberal donors across the country, even nabbing the support of a handful of rainmakers aligned with President Obama and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Star-Ledger review of state and federal records shows.
The checks are flying into the Republican governor’s war chest from all sorts of unlikely places — the hedge fund run by liberal billionaire George Soros, for example, and the politically progressive halls of the University of California, Berkeley.
The nascent support from Democratic donors is an early sign of Christie’s fundraising prowess in a potential run for the White House in 2016, experts and Democratic donors said, and dovetails with recent polls showing him gaining popularity nationally among Democrats and independents.
Christie’s partnership with New Jersey Democratic leaders and his warm relationship with Obama after Hurricane Sandy could be enticing donors who don’t often give to GOP candidates, even if they are closer ideologically to Democrat Barbara Buono, Christie’s lesser-known challenger, political scientists and Democratic fundraisers say.
"While I do not agree with his stance on every issue, he is one of the best political leaders I have talked to in a long time," said Ken Rosen, a UC-Berkeley professor who cut a $3,800 check to Christie after chatting with him at two events. "He is willing to take on tough issues such as pension reform, education reform, mental-health issues, even if his views are not politically correct."
Can someone please explain to me why the CW in Democratic beltway circles is that Christie can't possibly win the presidency? The far right is unhappy with his friendliness toward Obama when it came to Hurricane Sandy, but he seems to be quite popular with everyone else. Even (maybe especially) with Democrats.
If Christie can get past the Tea Partiers, I'm going to guess that a race between Hillary Clinton and Chris Christie would be as much about boys against the girls as about Democrats vs Republicans. Virtually every civilian man I talk to really likes the guy, even hard core liberal types. He's a "tough" guy, which apparently means that no matter what he believes in, he's awesome because he'll get 'er done. And his "political incorrectness" means he won't care about all that woman and gay junk that keeps getting in the way of "pragmatic solutions to real problems."
I find him to be a repulsive political figure, mostly for crap like this, which can be quickly summed up as the central problem with the human species:
Yuck. There are apparently a ton of people who get really turned on by that behavior and it's very creepy.
Even though a bunch of Democratic dudes are sniffing around Christie, Howie at Down with Tyranny endorsed Barbara Buono his sadly neglected Democratic opponent for Governor. You can donate to her here. If you don't think bullies make the best presidents it would be nice to take a bite out of him next fall before he gets the chance to pollute our politics with more of this macho garbage.