“Jeb Bush’s move to actively explore a 2016 White House bid is likely to complicate the path for fellow Republican Chris Christie and pressure the New Jersey governor to shore up donor support as he considers his own campaign,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Mr. Christie has spoken with a range of donors in recent weeks, according to people familiar with his conversations, among them billionaire backer Ken Langone. Mr. Christie has indicated in those talks that Mr. Bush’s entry alone wouldn’t keep him from the race, those people said.”

A new Quinnipiac poll finds New Jersey voters say by 53% to 40% that Gov. Chris Christie (R) would not make a good president.

“Decrying what he called ‘partisan politicians’ seeking ‘a political cudgel’ with which to beat him, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed legislation banning the use of pig gestation crates in New Jersey,” the Newark Star Ledger reports.

“The bill, which Christie called ‘a solution in search of a problem,’ gained national notoriety not so much for the effect it would have on New Jersey’s actual swine – there are only 9,000 in the state, according to USDA statistics – but on Christie’s political fortunes: Iowa is not only home to the first-in-the-nation political caucuses for the 2016 presidential election, but to 20 million pigs. Nearly one-third of the nation’s hogs are raised in Iowa, where hog farming alone represents $7.5 billion in total economic activity for the state, according to the Iowa Pork Producers Association.”

“We are all friends but let’s be fair, if a group of us decided to run for president we’ll compete with each other. I don’t think any of us have spent any time here trying to come up with some secret handshake or, you know, blood oath to each other about what we’ll do or we won’t do.”

— New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), quoted by Bloomberg, on his fellow Republican governors.

New York Times Magazine: “There are, in the public’s imagination, two competing notions of Chris Christie. In the first, he is a cravenly ambitious Everyman, a restless former lawyer and local officeholder who, through his law partner, became a major fund-raiser for George W. Bush and was named his campaign lawyer for New Jersey… In the other persona, Christie is a cartoonish bully and a classic embodiment of New Jersey’s brawny ethnic politics.”

“In person, Christie defies both of these caricatures. Obscured by the ambition, loose-cannon personality and, frankly, the girth, is the fact that he is an exceptionally gifted and nuanced politician. He has a preternatural talent for appearing blunt and insistent when he is being cute and obfuscating. He is also a savvy tactician. If Barack Obama were not a politician, you could imagine him being a law professor; Mitt Romney would be in business. If Christie were not a politician, he would be perfectly exhilarated to work as a political operative.”

[speech_bubble type=”std” subtype=”a” icon=”pwdome.jpg” name=””]Christie loves politics as much as Bill Clinton.[/speech_bubble]

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) “is set to arrive in Florida on Tuesday to wrap up his yearlong job as Republican Governors Association chairman, a position that brought national visibility to the potential 2016 contender,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The conference comes on the heels of Republicans picking up four gubernatorial seats in a particularly strong showing during the midterm elections. The GOP now controls 31 governor’s seats, a high last reached in 1998.”

Politico: “No, as much as national pundits like to bemoan Christie’s demeanor and as much as events like Bridgegate have underscored Christie’s reputation as a bully and a back-room brawler, his biggest campaign trail albatross is a more fundamental challenge—one he can’t fix with a smart made-for-YouTube put-down. Chris Christie’s greatest challenge as he contemplates moving onto the national stage is that his own state looks to be in rough shape.”

“Unlike the nation as a whole, which has more than recovered the jobs it lost during the recession, New Jersey has yet to recover half of its lost jobs. Christie once declared a ‘New Jersey Comeback,’ but he has since abandoned that narrative. Opponents in 2016 will want to tell Americans why.”

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) “has made clear to donors and potential supporters that he will not leave his job as New Jersey governor if he runs for president in 2016,” Politico reports.

Said strategist Mike DuHaime: “The governor is telling people that he is not going to resign.”

“The statement is the strongest response from anyone in Christie’s orbit to the question of whether, if he runs for president, he will do so while continuing to serve as governor. The issue has for months dominated private discussions among New York-area donors who comprise Christie’s base of support. They have questioned whether he would be hamstrung by strict federal ‘pay-to-play’ restrictions on campaign donations to sitting governors.”

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), “who visited 19 states in the five days leading up to yesterday’s elections to rally support for fellow Republicans, can rest on a stack of owed political favors,” Bloomberg reports.

“Republicans, who dominate the U.S. House of Representatives, captured the U.S. Senate and added at least two governor’s offices to the 29 they control. As the party’s possible 2016 presidential contenders seize on the momentum, Christie, 52, has early national exposure and donor appeal, having raised a record $102 million for races as chairman of the Republican Governors Association.”