Christie has scheduled a 1 p.m. press conference in his state’s capital, where he’s expected to announce that he will not seek the presidency. Two sources said he has started informing people of his decision in advance of his Trenton press conference.
“He is not running,” said a fundraiser informed of the decision. “Mary Pat and the gov just called tier one donor group to say he was out.”
The first-term governor, who has repeatedly ruled out a White House bid over the past year, indicated new openness in recent days to a possible run.
Christie would have been favored to win an enormous amount of support from national Republican power brokers who to date have been dissatisfied with the Republican field.
His stature had been effectively keeping a cadre of major New York and New Jersey contributors on the sidelines as they awaited his decision. Now his would-be financial backers may feel pressure to choose between the field of declared Republican candidates, which is unlikely to grow at this late date.
Christie’s decision leaves the Republican nomination fight as a choice between two front-runners — Mitt Romney and Rick Perry — who are both seen as flawed in the eyes of many party regulars.
“This decision will likely settle the field for the remainder of the campaign,” said Republican presidential campaign veteran Terry Nelson, who advised Tim Pawlenty’s bid earlier this year. “Without Christie in the race, Romney can continue to focus on Perry without having to worry about his left flank.”
Christie is the latest in a long string of Republicans whom the inside-the-Beltway crowd has looked to as a potential alternative to Romney, who to date has been unable to gather critical mass behind his bid.
A previously-planned speech last week at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, at which Christie didn't to rule out running despite the audience literally imploring him to run, only sent speculation about his ambitions to a fever pitch.
All the while, Christie has received open encouragement from deep-pocketed donors and party luminaries who have argued that Christie's affable, if blunt, style would make him the best Republican to take on President Barack Obama next fall. "I think Chris Christie has been the guy that can get the conservatives on our side, but also take states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and he can cut into the blue collar ethnic unions," Republican New York Rep. Peter King said last year.
Christie's reconsideration has been driven by lingering uncertainty among Republican voters about the party's current stable of presidential candidates, especially front runners Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and Rick Perry, the conservative governor of Texas. Romney has performed well in polls of GOP voters' preference in a nominee, but has struggled to build on his early advantage in the primary campaign. Many conservatives had looked to Perry as an alternative to Romney, but the Texas governor's stumbles in recent debates, combined with questions about his record on immigration and Social Security, have raised doubts about Perry's candidacy.
"There are a lot of guys with a Romney bumper sticker on their desk, but are waiting to put it on their car," a Republican tied to the party's fund raising circuit said last week of the Christie waiting game.
Republicans beckoned toward a variety of potential GOP saviors to make a late entry into the campaign throughout the summer and early fall, but have failed to lure them into the race. "Very tough to put together a national campaign with just a few months to go before Iowa, New Hampshire, and the like," said Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, who received such encouragement, Tuesday on KPRC radio.
A Washington Post/ABC News poll released Tuesday found that Christie would be just as competitive against Obama as Romney or Perry; in a head-to-head matchup, Obama and Christie would be tied at 45 percent among registered voters. Adding to the encouraging numbers, 42 percent of Republican-leaning Americans said they would like to see Christie seek the GOP's nomination in 2012, while 34 percent oppose a bid by the New Jersey governor.
But that doesn't mean that Christie would have entered the race as an immediate favorite. Romney would still lead among Republicans, at 21 percent, according to the same poll, followed by Perry and pizza magnate Herman Cain at 14 percent. Christie would enter the primary campaign with the support of 10 percent of Republicans, the poll found.
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