Author: Errors Plagued Christie Campaign
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Reporter and author of American Governor: Chris Christie's Bridge To Redemtion, Matt Katz assessed the demise of the Governor of New Jersey's presidential campaign and tried to explain where it all went wrong.
Katz, during an interview with Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, said the 'Bridgegate' scandal continued to plague Christie's campaign long after the story stopped getting headlines.
"It was because it triggered a lot of different things. For example, he lost those billionaire donors who don't care about ideology and only care about electability. They scurried away to people like Jeb Bush because they were concerned that he was going to be dealing with a scandal during the whole election. That was the first thing that happened. The second thing, he was really put on his heels. He stopped doing press conferences for many months. He endured presidential nominee level media scrutiny...Other scandals started to get dug up. It really was anti-brand."
He stated the Christie campaign really expected an assault on Florida Senator Marco Rubio at the final debate before the New Hampshire Primary to vault him back into contention. Instead it ended up damaging him even further.
"They thought they were going to take Rubio out and it was going to show people how tough and effective Christie was at the debate stage and people were going to make the conclusion that he could then take Hillary out, that Marco was a lightweight and the establishment Republicans who wanted a Republican in the White House would realize Chris Christie is the only one with the guts to take out Hillary and the ability to take out Hillary and that he would draw some voters from Marco's camp, Kasich's camp, and Jeb's camp. That is what they thought was going to happen."
Looking ahead, Katz still believes Christie could find a place in a Presidential cabinet, if a Republican emerges successfully in November's election.
"He's got one possibility I think in a Republican administration and that's Attorney General. I think that's the only job he would probably get and it would mean that the 'Bridgegate' stuff has to be past him, so I do think that's something he would want and could potentially get in a Bush, Kasich, or Trump administration...The power and the prominence, it's a good place to hole up before you decide to run for President again."
