Christie Drops Out After Blasting Nikki Haley on a Hot Mic – By Ed Kilgore (Intelligencer) / Jan 11, 2024
Chris Christie folded his 2024 presidential candidacy Wednesday at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire, the one state where he had gained some traction in his crusade to stop Donald Trump’s renomination. The withdrawal came as a surprise if only because the day before he had called New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu a “liar” for suggesting it might happen. But it had become clear in recent weeks that the most generally unpopular candidate in the field had no chance of catching up with Nikki Haley in the Granite State and was simply splitting the non-Trump vote to the benefit of his nemesis.
Christie’s own explanation was simply that he saw no path to victory, which is absolutely an accurate assessment of his situation. The RealClearPolitics polling averages for New Hampshire showed the former governor of New Jersey at 12 percent, 17 points behind Haley and 31 points behind Trump. Nationally, he’s in fifth place, at an anemic 3.5 percent.,
By dropping out before the Iowa caucuses (in which he never seriously competed), Christie saved himself from the immense pressure he would have come under to quit in the event Haley did well enough there to give her some New Hampshire momentum. And, without question, Christie’s departure from the race will help Haley: A new CNN–University of New Hampshire poll showed that 65 percent of Christie’s supporters in the state would vote for Haley, the former South Carolina governor, if he weren’t on the ballot. But he didn’t endorse Haley and may not unless she promises not to become Trump’s running mate down the road
