If there’s anything that may help mitigate some of the anger the right currently has toward Gov. Christie, it’s the anger the left has toward him.
Last Week Gov. Christie made a campaign swing through Califiornia. It concluded Wednesday night in Palo Alto with a fundraiser at the home of Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg. A progressive group called CREDO gathered a few dozen noisy activists to protest outside Zuckerberg’s home. Video shot by the group itself shows the scene as Condoleeza Rice arrived.
The ostensible reason for the Palo Alto protest was cuts Christie
made to Planned Parenthood in 2010. These were a small part of much broader cuts Christie made to close a multi-billion dollar budget deficit left by the
outgoing Governor. But CREDO’s policy director only seemed interested in bringing the Governor down a notch, “People have seen Christie on the news supporting Hurricane Sandy victims
and I think they don’t know that this is also the guy who defunded
Planned Parenthood and shut down six women’s clinics.”
In addition to support from Zuckerberg, the left is also concerned about Christie’s ability to win over Democrats and even far left media figures. Buzzfeed quotes Joshua Henne, a Democratic strategist hoping to muss up Chrsitie’s positive image, saying “There’s a huge gulf between the carefully constructed image Christie
puts forth in manufactured YouTube videos and puff pieces with Piers
Morgan or David Letterman where he talks about Springsteen and the Mets
and Christie’s real record in New Jersey.”
Democrats are right to be concerned. In late January, Christie had a 74 percent approval rating in a state that went for Barack Obama by 18 points. This included majority approval from Democrats, women and minority voters. Christie is running for re-election in New Jersey but is also seen as a potential candidate for President in 2016. Whatever attacks are being field tested on Christie now will certainly get amplified should he decide to run in two years.