Christie

Rumors are now circulating that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie may reconsider and run for President. If he should happen to win the nomination, it will certainly give the lie to my theory about Romney winning the Republican nomination, and why.

In the meantime, expect the NY Times and its ilk to publish a lot of full body shots of the overweight Christie. The Times is too dignified to refer to him as "the corpulent conservative" or "the fat free-trader." (Leave that to MSNBC and The Daily Kos.) But they will certainly take every photographic opportunity to emphasize Christie's jowly appearance.

Christie is the combative sort that the partisans want on their side. So he fulfills the "bar fight" litmus test if not the good-looks one. He has a more conservative record than Romney. And he is smarter and better on his feet than Perry.

If Christie can make a few jokes at his own expense at the outset of his campaign, he'll be a formidable candidate. A couple suggestions:

"I wouldn't have entered this campaign if I didn't think I could win. If I don't, though, Plan B is to get on Biggest Loser."

"Vote for Obese, not Obama."

"It's sort of ironic. I may be fat, but I'm a lot better at trimming down government than the skinny guy who's in office right now."

Ronald Reagan got a huge amount of mileage from of making a joke about his own age. Christie could gain similar traction.