Politico Pumps Chris Christie as 'Mitt's First VP Choice'

Declaring it “one of the most tantalizing subplots of the 2012 campaign,” Politico offers up the claims of anonymous “campaign insiders” as proof that Mitt Romney was leaning heavily in favor of Gov. Christie for his VP pick.

Ever since New Jersey Governor Chris Christie went all weepy over how wonderful Barack Obama was in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the Old Media has been attempting to use Christie as a wedge to cleave moderates away from Romney and toward Obama. Politico jumped on that narrative with yet another story based entirely on unnamed sources, claiming that Mitt Romney actually wanted the boisterous New Jersey governor instead of Paul Ryan as his veep.

But as you read the story, it actually suggest that Romney didn’t ever really consider Gov. Christie a top-tier candidate for the number two slot. In fact, there are many good reasons why Chris Christie would have made a terrible choice for vice president.

We know that the real purpose for this story is to keep Christie’s over-the-top, effusive praise of Obama during Hurricane Sandy at the forefront of voters’ minds. They mention Christie’s response to Obama several times in the piece.

Politico hopes to keep using Christie as a foil to Mitt Romney. They aren’t interested in reporting on Mitt Romney’s VP selection process as much as they hope to get moderate and undecided voters to view Obama as a middle-ground candidate who’s willing to work with Republicans.

Running this story right before the election doesn’t make any sense in any other context. Romney picked Ryan to be his running mate months ago, and even by the points in the Politico story, Christie was never really that close to being the guy. Why publish this story now other than to push a dual narrative of Obama as a uniter and as a hero in the wake of Hurricane Sandy?