Chris Christie 2016 Budget Address

Chris Christie had the task of addressing Trenton Lawmakers today to discuss the budget going forward this year and where he stands and where the state will be making changes. The link can be found here or http://www.app.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/2015/02/24/chris-christie-budget-speech-text/23966629/

In the speech Christie is trying to make the economy seem as bad as it really is. He is trying to use persuasion to be able to win over his audience. He is not lying but he is highlighting things like he has had a balanced budget again, glazing over the fact the future could look dismal.

"Spending is again held in line, at $33.8 billion, $2.3 billion less in discretionary spending than in Fiscal Year 2008. I am not talking about spending adjusted for inflation – I am saying that in nominal dollars, New Jersey has not increased spending over where we were in Fiscal Year 2008."

He also sets his agenda of how he wants to head to the future. 

"Today, I am embracing the Roadmap and also endorsing the entirety of the Commission's proposed plan, a series of reform proposals that will fundamentally change the pension and benefit systems so that there is fairness."

He also makes it clear he is aiming for the future and wants to help make NJ even stronger but does not do quite enough to show that. He does not reflect enough on the past to draw the tone to the now.

"That is my pledge to you today and if you are willing to stand up and work with me toward a better tomorrow, I will work with you."

Unfortunately for Christie he does not use enough evidence to support his claims. Even though he has been known as the do it all man, this may not be enough to help save the economy.  His language looks to the future without really showing. 

Chris Christie: A Tweeting Machine

The creation of social media has been huge for politicians. The opportunity to expand an audience in an easy and free way is always great. Chris Christie is a politician who is really good at some formats of social media, and not so great in others.  Christie's strongest form of social media is Twitter. For the younger demo's this is perfect.

Christie has been known to have many good, meaning full tweets that ultimately allow him to connect with people. Instead of just pushing out "Vote for me" he pushes out meaningful info such as school closings that people actually would want to know and would want the Governor to know about. 

With 7,000 tweets he is relatively active, with 506k followers, he has a decent following but would surly love to get that number up even higher. Christie also links to his Instagram that is also quite good and allows for multiple platforms of sharing.

Christie isn't nearly as strong on his Insta game but who really is? With 9,943 followers he is not reaching the massive audiences that many would hope, but he does show personal photos as well as good interaction shots.

Facebook is the classic favorite of most, but not Christie.

Christie does not do a great job with FB, mostly only sharing links and the occasional post, but by no means a flood of information. The positive is that he is on the three big platforms.

Website....he has not. Christie has the classic "Office of the Gov" webpage but does not have his own website which is team needs to get on soon to be able to attract people to learn more about him. This is quite surprising in this day and age.

There are good videos on Youtube of him being quite candid on Jimmy Fallon and him showing off his personality but the more recent video is of him falling out of a chair

Chris Christie On The Issues

Chris Christie isn’t as hot of a name as it was in 2012. Christie has been recently pegged as an angry fat man who is a liar and a cheat. This often happens when there is a scandal about a major bridge that is quintessential to peoples every day routines. Not every thing is negative about Christie though.  Many view him as a strong leader who gets things done. Also that he is not afraid to back down and can handle the issues.

The latter if the points made above is what he needs to show. When hurricane Sandy hit New Jersey, he was there, and not only was he there; he was in the total thick of things helping in the rebuilding effort and in the emotional aspects.  These are the qualities that need to be shouted from the rooftops. He needs to be portrayed by his marketing team as a strong man who can handle the issues and really works for and with the people.  This should be blasted on twitter with fun and unique videos of him showing efforts in rebuilding efforts and just everyday things. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOCC0RAR3Tg

Chris Christie’s biggest strength is going to be his political resume of getting things passed and ultimately put into affect.  This will be a very good selling point after a President who has been heavily scrutinized as not getting much done and being unable to work with republicans in senate.

The biggest weakness he holds is Bridgegate. Regardless if he was cleared or not, it is going to loom over his head as it is often hard to imagine the man who runs the state doesn’t know that something major like a bridge is shut down and it may be his fault. It is going to be a blemish on his career until the day he dies but there will be ways to put it in the past a bit if he plays his cards right.

The biggest opportunity for Christie is there is no real clear-cut best Republican candidate. You can argue Bush, Paul or someone else but none really stick out from the rest. This will allow for his personality to shine and to build support around the emotional energetic big man.

The biggest threat that he faces is a turn on him by the media. All he needs is one slip up to be the goat on the new CNN update that portrays him in an ugly light due to is often brash words and demeanor. He likes to yell which can often be taken as a bad thing.

One of the big issues that Christie will confront is the idea of Gay Marriage, which he is strongly against. It appears that he may be open to the idea of civil unions but believes that marriage is a special, sacred bond between a man and a woman. Another topic he will push is his stance his unwavering view on abortion and that it is only in extreme cases okay to kill an unborn child. Christie is running on his hard hitting conservative values that are sure to win over a few undecided voters.

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/bridgegate/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOCC0RAR3Tg

http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/Profiles/Governor/New_Jersey/Chris_Christie/Views/Gay_Marriage/

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/01/24/chris-christie-tells-conservatives-his-blunt-style-stances-shouldnt-turn-them-off-if-he-enters-presidential-race/

Who Is Chris Christie?

Who is Chris Christie? Christopher James Christie is the Republican Governor of his home state of New Jersey. Christie was born in Newark on September 6th of 1962. Christie has been in office since 2010 when he took over for Jon Corzine. Christie comes from humble beginnings with his father being a public accountant and having been a typical kid playing baseball in high school and enjoying politics.

Christie attended the University of Delaware, Newark for POLS before attending Seton Hall University for Law. Christie finished his program before ultimately joining law firm of Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci where he practiced Law. After his time with the firm, he volunteered for the George H.W, re-election campaign in 1992 before deciding to run for public office. Christie spent time as a freeholder and lobbyist before President Bush appointed him U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.

In 2009 Christie decided to run to be governor where he ultimately won the Republican nomination by receiving 55% of the vote. He took on the incumbent Corzine where he also won by a margin of 48.5% to 44.9%.  He was seen in 2012 as a possible candidate to run for the republican nomination for presidency but decided against it. This upcoming election he is viewed as having strong chance of running.

Christie is known to be a fiery man with a passion for arguing. One of the issues many have with Christie is his weight which is seen as a health concern. Christie had lap-band surgery in 2014 which many viewed as a precursor to a possible presidential run.

As a republican running a rathe liberal state, Christie has had a fierce resume of being able to still work to get things done. With a socially conservative mindset he still has received notice for being able to move legislature and win over his constituents. This is considered to be his claim to fame and ultimately a very strong selling point with his push for a possible presidency as a man who can work with both sides and get legislature moved along. Another strong point is him being a people person who works for the people. When New Jersey was hit by Hurricane Sandy, Christie was one of the first ones out there working to save his state and return it to normality. This point is very marketable to the American people.

One of his downfalls as governor and as a possible presidential candidate is the "Bridgegate" scandal. As four of the lanes on the George Washington bridge were shut down and many people were affected, their were reports that Christie had direct knowledge of the situation and that it was politically motivated as retaliation for the Fort Lee Mayor not backing him. Christie was cleared of any knowledge of the situation in a report but was looked at as a blemish on his record for gearing up to be President.

Christie is a hot headed, passionate American who really appears to be a man of the people. His run for the presidency will be contingent on his ability to work passed the issues of scandal and his ability to show people of his professionalism.

Sources:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/christopher_j_christie/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/17/us/chris-christie-fast-facts
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/26/nyregion/new-jersey-gop-and-legal-elite-differ-on-us-attorney.html
http://www.njelections.org/election-results/2009-official-general-election-gov-lt-gov-tallies-120109.pdf
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/lap-band-surgery-helped-chris-christie-article-1.1951266
http://www.biography.com/people/chris-christie-20648789#future-prospects
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/7/chris-christie-not-connected-to-bridgegate-lane-cl/?page=all