The surprisingly fast-moving Republican presidential contest, kicked off by Jeb Bush shortly after the New Year and accelerated by the unexpected re-emergence of Mitt Romney, is putting pressure on Christie, who was once the Republican establishment’s favorite.
The big-check GOP contributors that were once assumed to be Christie’s for the taking — in particular the Wall Street financiers just across the Hudson River from New Jersey — are now being courted aggressively by Bush and Romney as they ramp up their campaigns.
“There is big advantage to moving first, and when you’re a whale like both Jeb and Romney are, and you jump into that pool first, its hard for anyone else to squeeze in,” said B. Wayne Hughes, a California billionaire and Republican donor who has not committed to supporting a candidate. “They have the same donor base, so they have to go after those guys.”
Bush has been a well-liked figure in the center-right donor set for years, thanks to his widespread family connections and the perks and ambassadorships doled out by two previous Bush White Houses. The former Florida governor has also been a champion of immigration reform, a precious issue for the business community and Republicans who want to grow the party’s appeal among Hispanics, even as conservatives bristle at the idea.
Romney, meanwhile, built an impressive financial network during his 2012 campaign, and many of those donors are waiting to see what he does before committing to another candidate. His surprising decision last week at a New York donor meeting to “show some 2016 leg,” as one attendee put it, was designed to keep Bush at bay as he mulls a third presidential bid.
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Christie’s speech to the audience was “short on conservative red meat, but long on how he’s the guy that can win,” said one Republican who attended the afternoon session, held at a Columbia law firm.
“He said something to the effect of, ‘Today is Nikki Haley’s day, but maybe it will be Chris Christie’s day in South Carolina soon,” the source told CNN. “You couldn’t walk away from that thinking anything other than he’s going to run.”
After the event, Matt Moore, the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, posted photos of the event on Facebook.
“My honor to introduce Chris Christie in South Carolina today,” he wrote. “The man tells it like it is…we like that in S.C.!”
