You all know that I have repeatedly said that Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as the VP nominee was a disastrous mistake that may well have cost him the presidency. Ryan had a serious lack of charisma and command presence. More serious, he tied Romney to his unpopular budget and Medicare proposals, proposals that could not even pass the republican House. Additionally, his presence on the ticket turned the election from a referendum on Obama to one on Romney/Ryan's tax and spending priorities.
I wondered why they passed the pbvious pick, NJ Governor Chris Christie. Other than the fact that he was a fat, loudmouthed slob who could never have gotten a job with the buttondown Bain crowd, Christie seemed to be the solution to many of Romney's problems.
Now we have the answers, courtesy of a new book that reveals the contents of hundred so f interviews with workes on both the Romeny and Obama campaigns. See http://swampland.time.com/2013/11/02/the-hunt-for-pufferfish/
To summarize, the people responsible for vetting VP candidates were very uncomfortable about items in Christie's background. They seemed fairly trivial to me, things like a DOJ IG report criticizing his expense account spending, a defamation case from an early campaign, some ethical lapses by a brother and some lobbying work Christie had done. If it had been serious, how could he have been elected in a blue state like NJ?
I think what actually happened was that the straight arrow Romney people just didn't like Christie and his staff, and lacked the political smarts to see beyond a few obstacles. Tellingly, Romney's campaign manager wanted Christie and then preferred Ohio's Rob Portman to Ryan, both decisions I agree with.
According to the book, Obama and his people felt exactly the same way that I and Romney's campaign manager did. They were virtually incredulous that a smart guy like Romney had basically handed them the election through an unforced error.
There is a lesson in all this. At the end of the day, politics is about winning elections, not policies or governing. Obama's team got that. Romney didn't.
I wondered why they passed the pbvious pick, NJ Governor Chris Christie. Other than the fact that he was a fat, loudmouthed slob who could never have gotten a job with the buttondown Bain crowd, Christie seemed to be the solution to many of Romney's problems.
Now we have the answers, courtesy of a new book that reveals the contents of hundred so f interviews with workes on both the Romeny and Obama campaigns. See http://swampland.time.com/2013/11/02/the-hunt-for-pufferfish/
To summarize, the people responsible for vetting VP candidates were very uncomfortable about items in Christie's background. They seemed fairly trivial to me, things like a DOJ IG report criticizing his expense account spending, a defamation case from an early campaign, some ethical lapses by a brother and some lobbying work Christie had done. If it had been serious, how could he have been elected in a blue state like NJ?
I think what actually happened was that the straight arrow Romney people just didn't like Christie and his staff, and lacked the political smarts to see beyond a few obstacles. Tellingly, Romney's campaign manager wanted Christie and then preferred Ohio's Rob Portman to Ryan, both decisions I agree with.
According to the book, Obama and his people felt exactly the same way that I and Romney's campaign manager did. They were virtually incredulous that a smart guy like Romney had basically handed them the election through an unforced error.
There is a lesson in all this. At the end of the day, politics is about winning elections, not policies or governing. Obama's team got that. Romney didn't.
