I now think Chris Christie is not even going to run for President. Perhaps he will run for Senate instead. Maggie Haberman and Nicholas Confessore:
He does not return phone calls. He does not ask for support. He arrives late for meetings. And he acts as if he has all the time in the world. The complaints have piled up for weeks, dismaying many longtime supporters of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and sending others into the arms of his rivals for the presidential nomination, according to interviews with more than two dozen Republican donors and strategists. As a half-dozen other candidates aggressively raise money and chase endorsements in Iowa and New Hampshire, friends and detractors alike say Mr. Christie’s view of his status and pre-eminence within the Republican field is increasingly at odds with the picture outside his inner circle.
Jake Miller at CBS examines how Common Core may become a primary issue for Republican presidential candidates. Eventually, I think it will become an issue in Democratic politics as well. If Kavips has his way, it already has:
Common Core federal education standards are riling the conservative base, and as the 2016 Republican presidential field takes shape, the standards — seen by right wing activists as a federal overreach and a threat to parental rights — are poised to play a big role in the GOP nominating process. That’s doubly true in Iowa, where the kinds of Republican voters most vehemently opposed to Common Core — evangelical Christians, home-schooling advocates, states-rights conservatives — exert considerable influence over the state’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucus.