The GOP Field is Now Closed
Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin is unhappy with the state of the Republican Presidential field and so has come up with a roadmap for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to enter in at the last minute and sweep the primaries and election.
The sheer scale of the plan that Rubin is proposing makes clear that the GOP field is largely stuck. Here is what Christie (or any other last minute candidate) is up against.
1. Ballot deadlines. Politico has reported that any candidate for President will need to submit their names for the primary ballot in Florida on October 31st and for South Carolina the day after. Anyone who wants to run needs to announce in the next few weeks.
2. Fundraising. Rubin’s piece argues that fundraising for Christie will be achieved be having all Republicans pledge support for him and then having Haley Barbour raise money for him:
He announces at an event featuring former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. The GOP all-stars explain that they’ve gone on bended knee to the one person they think can unite the party, win in the general election and make the hard calls to return us to fiscal sanity and revive American prosperity. They all pledge to raise money and provide policy advice to Christie. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour announces he will lead the Christie super-PAC and can raise tens of millions of dollars by the end of the year.
There are many problems with this. Haley Barbour is already committed to helping Karl Rove run his Super PAC so I don’t know how easily he can jump ship for a project like this. Super PACs also can’t run an actual campaign, Christie would still need staff, donors, and other resources that he just hasn’t spent time collecting.
3. Policy Formulation. My favorite part of the fantasy is when Rubin thinks that Alice Rivlin will sign onto Team Christie:
The next day he announces the basics of his proposed Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid reforms. A working group composed of the former head of the Office of Management and Budget and now Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Ryan, Democrat Alice Rivlin and former assistant OMB director James Capretta will help him formulate specific proposals.
Presumably, any GOP plan that covers entitlements like Rubin wants will need to stick very close to the architecture of the Ryan budget. Christie likes the Ryan budget. Alice Rivlin does not. I don’t see much synergy here.
4. Available Resources. It is true that Rick Perry was able to enter the race late but that was with a large Texas donor community committed to him. I don’t see a similar equivalent of donors in waiting for Christie who won’t eventually turn out for Mitt Romney. I suspect Christie, Palin, and any other “might have been” candidates have long passed the point of no return for when they could have entered.
