New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie didn't say yes, but he didn't say no explicitly, so his speech Tuesday night on "American exceptionalism" still may fan rumors that he's wavering on a possible run for the presidency.
Speaking at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Library in Simi Valley, Calif., Christie criticized President Barack Obama's economic policies and contrasted their records in office.
Christie called Obama's proposal to increase taxes on those Americans earning more than $1 million “a re-election strategy” at odds with Obama’s statements about attempting to reunite Americans.
About his own record in New Jersey, Christie said his office had not waited for others to go first to propose solutions, seemingly a reference to criticisms that Obama has waited for legislation to emerge out of Congress.
Christie didn't address the presidential campaign in his speech, but in a question and answer session with the audience afterward, he was asked if he would run. Christie didn't say no, but pointed listeners to a video clip on the Politico website that combined a series of clips of him telling various interviewers that he was not running and would not run for president.
Politico called it the "least direct answer he has given to date" on whether he would run.
On FOX News, political adviser Karl Rove called Christie’s speech a road map for a Republican candidate on how to campaign for the presidency, whether Christie runs or not.
Privately and publicly, influential Republicans are urging Christie to run and are prepared to raise money. That's because Obama is politically vulnerable with little prospect for an ascendant economy to provide a boost before the November 2012 election and because none of the current Republican candidates have distanced themselves from the field.
Christie has insisted repeatedly and in the clearest terms that he will not run in 2012.
"When it comes to running for president, you don't pick the time. The time picks you," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute in New Jersey. "If his burning desire is to be president, then the time is now. You don't know what the environment will be in 2016 or 2020."
Christie has yet to display even a flickering desire, repeating many times that he is not interested. Sometimes he says it with candor ("I'm not ready"), sometimes with humor ("What, short of suicide, do I have to do to convince people I'm not running?")
Christie, who was elected governor in 2009, was on a Republican Party fund-raising tour with stops in Missouri and California, including the speech Tuesday night, which only heightened speculation he might change his mind.
"This is a do or die moment for him," said Brigid Harrison, a professor of political science and law at New Jersey's Montclair State University.
"There is a risk in waiting," she said, because by 2016, "he won't be the new kid on the block anymore."
Many Republicans liked Christie's combative stand against public-sector unions, which led to cost-cutting deals that helped balance New Jersey's budget while putting a cap on property taxes. A former federal prosecutor, Christie appeals to law-and-order conservatives but is moderate enough on social issues that he was able to win in a Democratic-leading state.
Despite Christie's avowed disinterest in the White House, longtime adviser Tom Kean gave the Christie-for-president movement a boost Monday when he said Christie was "very seriously" considering running.
"He's giving it a lot of thought. I think the odds are a lot better now than they were a couple weeks ago," Kean, a former New Jersey governor, told the National Review Online.
Wall Street Republicans in particular have been urging him to run. Three politically connected Republicans in the financial industry told Reuters on Tuesday he was being courted by activists who are dissatisfied with the current Republican field, but they asked not to be identified by name.
The New York Times listed a number of wealthy and influential party activists who were trying to get him to run, including David Koch, recently listed by Forbes magazine as the richest New Yorker, and hedge fund magnate Paul Singer.
The New York Post Republican royalty such as former first lady Barbara Bush and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger were wooing Christie.
Dante Scala, chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of New Hampshire, said elites want Christie because they "feel they can do business with him."
Looking at the presumed front-runners, they do not see former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as a real conservative and do not trust Texas Governor Rick Perry, Scala said. They see the others as fringe candidates who cannot beat Obama.
"It's always what you cannot have that you want the most," Scala said.
Christie still has time to change his mind but not much. The deadline for registering for the Florida primary is Oct. 31.
