Chris Christie cruised to victory in the recent New Jersey Gubernatorial Election, beating Barbara Buono by a margin of 60% to 38%. Chris Christie is the individual whom the media and political cartoons have always portrayed as a “bully.” During his first term, he was forever at odds with teachers across the state and he is always (and always has been) the “tell it like it is” governor. He is the guy who is eating doughnuts on Late Night as David Letterman is asking him questions about his weight. This is Christie’s second term as governor and now his profile has been raised nationally. He is considered a front runner to be the Republican Presidential Candidate in 2016. It is hard to understand how Christie has managed to become the bipartisan savior and defy all of the odds and only time will tell what becomes of it.

Let’s look at some things that seem improbable:

• Christie is a Republican and he won in a Democratic state. At first glance, this does not seem to be monumental, but he garnered 60% of the votes in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by 700,000.
• Christie ran against a woman and received 55% of the woman vote.
• The only counties that Christie did not win were the Democratic strongholds of Hudson County and Essex County.
• Christie won 48% of the Hispanic vote.
• Christie won 20% of the African-American vote.
• Christies won all age groups except those in the 18-29 range. In that group, he only lost by 6 percentage points.

Some of the key issues in this election were same-sex marriage, abortion rights, the minimum wage, and the economy in general. For the most part, Christie opposed the popular view on most of these issues. During his first term, Christie was a proponent of budget cuts; however, the economic recovery in New Jersey has been somewhat lackluster.

Without much explanation, Christie’s stock began to rise one year ago. After Hurricane Sandy, Christie was perceived as being more of a “leader.” In the days after Hurricane Sandy, Christie met with President Obama. He came under fire for pandering, particularly from the GOP.  Within New Jersey, the perception was that he had put partisan politics aside and was doing what was best for his state. This is probably the most logical explanation for his dramatic rise in approval rating and other polls. This was aired and discussed nationally which catapulted Christie to the national stage.

So, is this all true? Did this really happen? We know that Christie is a no-nonsense guy. I think that many can perhaps relate to that trait. He became Chairman of the National Republican Governors Association. But, is he really presidential material? Is he the GOP Candidate in 2016? Will his “bully-like” flair continue to work as an asset or will it become detrimental? We will see with time. Only one New Jersey Governor has ever become President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, and that was in 1912.