I don’t think any responsible governor at this point would call for a special election that would cost $10 million.” - “The Daily Show” on Wednesday flagged audio from a 2009 press conference in which then governor-elect Christie said he didn’t think a responsible governor would call for a pricey special election.

There is a lot of skepticism about Christie from conservative voters. Among those identifying as ‘very conservative’ 35% see him positively to 36% with a negative opinion. Christie’s overall net favorability of +12 at 41/29 ranks him 8th most popular out of the 9 Republicans we looked at, leading only Susana Martinez who is not yet well known on a national level.

Rubio leads the Republicans among conservatives, while Christie has the advantage with moderates. The problem for Christie is that only 19% of primary voters are moderates while 74% are conservatives.

Even CPAC had to cut back on its speakers this year by about 300 pounds.

Mr. Christie’s failure to be invited [to CPAC] is not a mere oversight; virtually every other prominent Republican who might be a plausible nominee in 2016 has been asked to participate. … Now that he’s been “outed” as a moderate, it may be hard to close the closet door.

Mr. Christie, meanwhile, will need to consider whether to compete for the Republican nomination in 2016. While the mainstream media tends to chronically overrate the likelihood of a viable independent bid for the presidency, Mr. Christie would be better positioned to seek one than most, with very high favorability ratings among independent voters and the access to money and news media attention that comes from being a prominent politician in the Northeast.

Christie’s overall favorability is 51% to 23%, but his 29 standing with Democrats, 52% to 23%, is higher than his 21 with GOP voters, 48% to 27%.

He talked a lot about himself.