Chris Christie has said several times that he isn’t running for president. Talking to NRO earlier this year, he said, “I already know I could win,” but added that “I’ve got to believe I’m ready to be president, and I don’t. And I think that that’s the basis you have to make that decision.”
Despite that, conservative activists across the country have continued to hope he’ll change his mind. Now some big Iowa Republican donors are going to New Jersey to urge Christie to reconsider. From the Associated Press:
Bruce Rastetter, an Iowa energy company executive, and a half-dozen other prominent Iowa GOP donors sought the meeting with Christie, the governor’s chief political adviser, Mike DuHaime, told The Associated Press. The get-together is set for the governor’s mansion in Princeton, N.J., on May 31.
The meeting speaks to what some Republicans nationally say is a lack of enthusiasm about the emerging roster of contenders. It’s also unusual because candidates typically court Iowans, who get the first say in presidential nominating contests, and not the other way around.