dustycorgill
Well-Known
In his re-election victory speech Tuesday night, the blunt-talking New Jersey governor who's seriously considering a bid for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination touted his bipartisan successes in the Garden State.
"I know tonight, a dispirited America, angry with their dysfunctional government in Washington, looks to New Jersey to say, 'Is what I think happening really happening? Are people really coming together? Are we really working, African-Americans and Hispanics, suburbanites and city dwellers, farmers and teachers? Are we really all working together?' " Christie said.
"Let me give the answer to everyone who is watching tonight: Under this government, our first job is to get the job done, and as long as I'm governor, that job will always, always be finished," he told supporters at a victory gathering in Asbury Park.
While much of Christie's speech was directed at a New Jersey audience, it may also have been meant as a message for the nation, two top Republicans said.
"It wasn't an acceptance speech, that was an announcement speech," said CNN contributor Alex Castellanos, a veteran of numerous GOP campaigns.
"I think it was an introductory speech," added former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the co-host of CNN's "Crossfire."
With Christie's re-election campaign seen as a tuneup or steppingstone for that probable White House bid, he needed a big victory over his little-known Democratic challenger, state Sen. Barbara Buono. And Christie came though, grabbing 60% of the vote, at last check.
Another question heading into Election Day 2013 was how Christie would perform with voters who lean Democratic.
CNN exit polls indicate Christie got 57% of the female vote. He won every age group except 18- to 29-year-olds, which he narrowly lost. He also won the Latino vote and took just over a fifth of the African-American vote, a much better performance than many Republicans in recent elections.
As expected, 93% of Republicans voted for Christie, according to the exit polls.
But he also won two-thirds of independents and just over three in 10 Democrats in a state where Democrats and independents made up nearly three-quarters of Tuesday's electorate.
The exit polls appear to bolster Christie's case that he's among the most electable of the potential GOP White House hopefuls heading into 2016.
Cuccinelli was heavily outspent in Virginia by McAuliffe and Democratic outside groups like Planned Parenthood, NextGen Climate Action and Independence USA PAC, an anti-gun group funded by Bloomberg.
The money wasn't the sole reason McAuliffe held a lead for most of the year: Cuccinelli was an unabashedly conservative candidate running in a swing state, his campaign made some strategic errors, and outside forces like the ethics scandal surrounding Gov. Bob McDonnell consumed the spring and summer news cycle.
McAuliffe led the race in every poll since May, back when TV ad spending was mostly at parity.
But the Democratic spending assault, especially after Labor Day, locked in the contours of the race. Heading into Election Day, Democrats had a roughly 4-1 spending edge over Republicans on the TV airwaves, and Republicans couldn't punch through.
With Cuccinelli steadily trailing throughout the fall, it became harder and harder for him to raise money and enlist outside support.
As the race came down to just 40,000 or so votes Tuesday night, Cuccinelli supporters in Richmond were livid that Republicans didn't do more to help.
The Republican Governors Association spent about $8 million on the race, but stopped running television ads weeks ago. At the time, they pumped $1.7 million into a cakewalk of a governor's race in New Jersey -- precious money that could have boosted Cuccinelli down the stretch.
The Republican National Committee spent $3 million in Virginia -- a worthy commitment, $6 million less than it did in 2009.
"A number of people in the party establishment are going to need to take a hard look in the mirror and think about how they stranded their Republican nominee in Virginia, and with their help we would have had a Republican governor of Virginia," vented one Republican strategist close to the campaign.
Indeed, Cuccinelli kept it surprisingly close in the end, losing by just two points even while running as an unabashed "first principles" conservative in a state dominated by an increasingly moderate electorate.
"This guy ran and stuck to his guns and almost pulled it off," said Pete Snyder, a businessman and former Republican candidate for lieutenant governor. "Ken ran an unbelievable race, stuck to his principles. He had tons of drama in the party, and he was almost able to overcome that."
Asked about the criticism from Cuccinelli supporters, RNC spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said the party committee boosted get-out-the-vote efforts.
"The RNC spent millions of dollars to fund the ground game efforts in both New Jersey and Virginia, working in coordination with both campaigns to identify and turn out voters," she said.
This just tell me that we better get off of our asses from now until the 2014 and 2016 elections and make our voices heard. They WILL try to shove Chris "Krispy Kreme" Christies fat ass down our throats. And they WILL try to f*ck any Tea Party candidate out of any shot in 2014. We gotta get up and make as much noise as these liberal panzies and these Rhino bitches.
"I know tonight, a dispirited America, angry with their dysfunctional government in Washington, looks to New Jersey to say, 'Is what I think happening really happening? Are people really coming together? Are we really working, African-Americans and Hispanics, suburbanites and city dwellers, farmers and teachers? Are we really all working together?' " Christie said.
"Let me give the answer to everyone who is watching tonight: Under this government, our first job is to get the job done, and as long as I'm governor, that job will always, always be finished," he told supporters at a victory gathering in Asbury Park.
While much of Christie's speech was directed at a New Jersey audience, it may also have been meant as a message for the nation, two top Republicans said.
"It wasn't an acceptance speech, that was an announcement speech," said CNN contributor Alex Castellanos, a veteran of numerous GOP campaigns.
"I think it was an introductory speech," added former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the co-host of CNN's "Crossfire."
With Christie's re-election campaign seen as a tuneup or steppingstone for that probable White House bid, he needed a big victory over his little-known Democratic challenger, state Sen. Barbara Buono. And Christie came though, grabbing 60% of the vote, at last check.
Another question heading into Election Day 2013 was how Christie would perform with voters who lean Democratic.
CNN exit polls indicate Christie got 57% of the female vote. He won every age group except 18- to 29-year-olds, which he narrowly lost. He also won the Latino vote and took just over a fifth of the African-American vote, a much better performance than many Republicans in recent elections.
As expected, 93% of Republicans voted for Christie, according to the exit polls.
But he also won two-thirds of independents and just over three in 10 Democrats in a state where Democrats and independents made up nearly three-quarters of Tuesday's electorate.
The exit polls appear to bolster Christie's case that he's among the most electable of the potential GOP White House hopefuls heading into 2016.
Cuccinelli was heavily outspent in Virginia by McAuliffe and Democratic outside groups like Planned Parenthood, NextGen Climate Action and Independence USA PAC, an anti-gun group funded by Bloomberg.
The money wasn't the sole reason McAuliffe held a lead for most of the year: Cuccinelli was an unabashedly conservative candidate running in a swing state, his campaign made some strategic errors, and outside forces like the ethics scandal surrounding Gov. Bob McDonnell consumed the spring and summer news cycle.
McAuliffe led the race in every poll since May, back when TV ad spending was mostly at parity.
But the Democratic spending assault, especially after Labor Day, locked in the contours of the race. Heading into Election Day, Democrats had a roughly 4-1 spending edge over Republicans on the TV airwaves, and Republicans couldn't punch through.
With Cuccinelli steadily trailing throughout the fall, it became harder and harder for him to raise money and enlist outside support.
As the race came down to just 40,000 or so votes Tuesday night, Cuccinelli supporters in Richmond were livid that Republicans didn't do more to help.
The Republican Governors Association spent about $8 million on the race, but stopped running television ads weeks ago. At the time, they pumped $1.7 million into a cakewalk of a governor's race in New Jersey -- precious money that could have boosted Cuccinelli down the stretch.
The Republican National Committee spent $3 million in Virginia -- a worthy commitment, $6 million less than it did in 2009.
"A number of people in the party establishment are going to need to take a hard look in the mirror and think about how they stranded their Republican nominee in Virginia, and with their help we would have had a Republican governor of Virginia," vented one Republican strategist close to the campaign.
Indeed, Cuccinelli kept it surprisingly close in the end, losing by just two points even while running as an unabashed "first principles" conservative in a state dominated by an increasingly moderate electorate.
"This guy ran and stuck to his guns and almost pulled it off," said Pete Snyder, a businessman and former Republican candidate for lieutenant governor. "Ken ran an unbelievable race, stuck to his principles. He had tons of drama in the party, and he was almost able to overcome that."
Asked about the criticism from Cuccinelli supporters, RNC spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said the party committee boosted get-out-the-vote efforts.
"The RNC spent millions of dollars to fund the ground game efforts in both New Jersey and Virginia, working in coordination with both campaigns to identify and turn out voters," she said.
This just tell me that we better get off of our asses from now until the 2014 and 2016 elections and make our voices heard. They WILL try to shove Chris "Krispy Kreme" Christies fat ass down our throats. And they WILL try to f*ck any Tea Party candidate out of any shot in 2014. We gotta get up and make as much noise as these liberal panzies and these Rhino bitches.