Just now, his campaign released a statement that he was thinking about what to do with his largely-failed presidential run. This is a far cry from a guy who said right before the New Hampshire primary that “even if I place sixth, I’m going to South Carolina.”
Well, 6th place might be too hopeful. Christie could very well place seventh (behind Fiorina) by the time all the votes are in. That’s got to be a stunning disappointment for a guy who had the best debate of his life last Saturday, and to possibly lose to someone who wasn’t even on stage.
Many credit him with Marco Rubio’s pitiful performance in that debate. His bold attacks on Rubio even inspired a hilarious article in The Borowitz Report “Chris Christie to Quit Race so He Can Focus on Tormenting Rubio Full-Time.” And his hilarious undressing of Marco as a politician-robot—Rubio kindly leaned into the punch by repeating his talking points even after Christie called him out on it—did seem to hurt Rubio.
The results aren’t in yet, but it looks like Rubio might be lucky to place fourth since Kasich, Ted Cruz, and even professional laughing-stock Jeb Bush are doing better than him as of this writing. That’s terrible for a guy who’d been in a neck-and-neck race with Kasich to place 2nd before now. But Christie’s attacks on Rubio didn’t really help Christie either. It seems like the beneficiary was Jeb Bush, of all people. [Even odds on whether Jeb or Donald paid Christie.]
So is Christie really done? Only time will tell, but the “SEC primary” states that are coming up are not likely to be more friendly to him than New Hampshire, and even when the race finally gets to NY, Trump is likely to take all the East Coast momentum.