Christie Is No Factor In Legislative Races

Chris Christie said Republicans were going to "make history" in this year's midterm election. Whether that is true is a matter of perspective.

It could be considered "historic" that a Governor as popular and polarizing as Christie has no impact on key races.

 Christie is the darling of the national GOP, but that national popularity was no where evident as we counted votes last night. Three legislative districts -- in Atlantic, Mercer, and Bergen Counties -- were considered to be "in play." Christie spent considerable time campaigning for fellow republicans in those districts, and directed millions of dollars of party money into the contests. As the final votes were counted, it didn't matter. The races were close, but still with comfortable margins of victory for the democratic party.

Those of us who follow the political scene closely in New Jersey will spend the next several days dissecting the numbers looking for trends, anomalies, and reading the tea leaves of the election to try and predict future trends. This is more sport and hobby than real science, but there may be reason for Team Christie to worry.

 He remains popular, but polarizing, and as he likely faces a re-election campaign in a year where the economy is still sluggish, the Democratic majority could make a strong case his policies have failed to revive this state.