He's hired a top-notch, national fund raiser to fill his campaign war chest.
He's probably getting ready to launch a national PAC or presidential exploratory committee.
He's practically daring federal prosecutors to wind up their seemingly endless investigation of the Bridgegate scandal even in the face of persistent rumors that former aides and allies of his may be indicted.
He's traveling throughout the country more than ever and he's even gone out of the way to prove he's beyond regional by taking a front row seat at sports contests that upset some people at home.
And, he's showing no signs of being cowered either by the Titans of his party (Romney and Bush) or the supposed leaders of vocal segments (Huckabee and Rand Paul).
Which is to say that Christie is being Christie: Brash, daring, sometimes defiant, often provocative, always animated and ultimately irrepressible.
But amidst all the bigger-than-life imagery that has come to define Christieland, it's sometimes easy to forget that there's real substance behind all the shouting.
Indeed, the governor has made genuine progress on his agenda in a solidly Democrat state with an entrenched Democrat legislature. Which is to say that he's accomplished a lot against nearly impossible odds.
He brought about sweeping public-sector pension and benefit reform that will save the state $122 billion over the next several decades. He balanced five consecutive state budget without any new taxes. He signed into law a two percent hard cap on property taxes, cutting out loopholes and putting control back in the hands of property taxpayers. Now, these taxes are rising at their slowest pace (1.7 percent) in more than two decades. He also won long sought interest arbitration reform providing municipalities with the help they need to keep property taxes down. This reform caps arbitration awards to union employees at two percent. He cut state government by 8,500 employees and held state government discretionary spending below fiscal year 2008 levels.
These government economies and reforms are real milestones and they hit cherished conservative targets: Smaller, more efficient government; less spending; less waste; lower taxes.
But this is just a small part of what Christie has accomplshed.
Under the governor's leadership New Jersey has created 153,200 private-sector jobs and is on pace for five consecutive years of positive private-sector job growth. Christie's administration has eliminated countless job-killing government regulations and brought more than $12.6 billion in total public-private investment to the Garden State. They also helped nearly 190,000 New Jersey businesses affected by Superstorm Sandy, awarding $174 million in grants through the Stronger NJ Business programs. And despite Sandy and the problems that plagued Atlantic City and other coastal communities, on Christie's watch New Jersey’s unemployment rate has dropped to 6.4 percent from a recessionary peak of 9.7 when the governor took office.
On education Christie has also amassed an impressive record. He took on the entrenched state teacher's union to enact the first extensive reform of New Jersey’s tenure law in over 100 years, signing into law the Teacher Effectiveness and Accountability for the Children of New Jersey (TEACHNJ) Act, a sweeping, bipartisan overhaul of the oldest tenure law in the nation. He improved the authorizing and application process for charter schools, encouraging more charter school applicants, creating greater flexibility with administration and finances, and allowing districts to convert failing public schools into charters. The Christie Administration has increased the overall number of charter schools in New Jersey to 87, up from 51 when the governor took office. Christie also achieved a long-awaited overhaul of the state’s higher education system -- something that eluded leaders in the state for more than a decade. There are now three hubs of higher education excellence in the northern, central, and southern parts of the state. And, the governor fought for and won enactment of The Urban Hope Act which authorizes the conversion of failing schools into renaissance schools in three of the state's highest needs districts: Camden, Trenton, and Newark.
In fact, some of Christie's greatest accomplishments can be seen in my hometown of Camden which long topped the list as the poorest and most crime-ridden city in America.
Christie promised he would tackle Camden's problems -- and he did.
Returning to Camden over and over again, Christie prodded, dared, shamed, schmoozed and cajoled until he got what he wanted. He was indefatigable.
He took aggressive action to trigger sweeping reforms of police services in the city. With the support of the Christie Administration, the City and County of Camden created a county-wide force that put more cops on the streets of Camden, and more resources at their disposal. Now, Camden's murder rate and overall crime rate have both fallen significantly. He also took decisive action to reform the Camden School District. The Christie Administration, through a new state-appointed superintendent and leadership team, and in coordination with local and community leaders, assumed direct oversight in launching reforms to start delivering better results for Camden students and their families. Recently, Governor Christie signed the bipartisan Economic Opportunity Act, a sweeping overhaul of New Jersey’s Economic Incentive Programs and the result of months of hard work from members of both parties. The EOA specifically refocuses New Jersey’s incentive programs to drive jobs and investment to cities like Camden through lowered thresholds to qualify for the programs, as well as increased incentives available.
What Republican can boast this kind of cooperation and this kind of outreach to distressed urban centers such as Camden -- let alone this type of progress?
What Republican has been on the ground with the people, issues and problems of cities such as Camden, meeting those problems head on day after day?
Who else in the GOP can point to a solid record of listening to, understanding and actually helping people in places like Camden, Trenton, Atlantic City and Newark?
New Jersey is America's most densely populated state but it is also in many ways a microcosm of our nation. It has cities and hamlets, industry and agriculture, immense wealth and distressing poverty. As such, it is an apt laboratory for the kind of leadership, the types of initiatives and the sorts of ideas that might work for our whole country.
You can mock Chris Christie's gruff style.
You can argue with his choice of sports teams or his embrace of certain team owners.
You can even quibble with his adoration for Bruce Springsteen.
But you can't deny that he's got a solid record to run on.
You may not like all the flotsam and jetsam that seem to accompany Christie but you damned well know he's here. Christie's not AWOL. He's right here, right on the ground, sometimes right in your face and he Gets Things Done.
He'll reach the audiences that he has to reach, sell the ideas that he has to sell, win the converts that he has to convert and he'll do it all his way, in his own inimitable style.
And more often than night that style will produce real substance - real stuff that changes people's lives for the better.
That's the Chris Christie story.
And he's about to take it national.
Get ready America!
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