Chait thinks the New Jersey governor would test the GOP:
The deeper question a Christie run would raise is what, exactly, Republicans are looking for. The Congressional Republicans have pursued a strategy of opposing everything Obama proposes, even positions Republicans had endorsed. How much of this represents the Party moving substantively right — actually changing its mind about the individual mandate and payroll tax cuts and so on — and how much represents a simple desire to fight Obama? If Christie runs, he will offer a perfect test. Here is a man signaling he wants to sign the same overarching plan for federal taxes and spending that Obama wanted to sign, but he will just be really mean about it.
In related territory, Douthat and Larison debate the limits of Christie's charisma. Readers proffer more potential reasons why he isn't running:
Being overweight myself, I understand how difficult it is to manage a hectic schedule. I think Christie understands that he can't meet the grueling physical demands of a presidential run. Everywhere he goes he is carrying an extra man around in his backpack. His asthma has already landed him in the hospital this year, and his asthma will not be improved by huffing and puffing his way from one event to another. This may be even part of what he means by saying he "isn't ready."
Perhaps like most of us, he's an eternal optimist that given enough time, he'll lose the weight. (A vice-presidential run perhaps? He'd only have to do this dance for a couple of months.) This is not something many people want to go near. Notice, this is not a question of discriminating against him because he's fat. This is a question of whether he thinks he can do this because of the burden he carries.
Once in office, obese presidents throughout history have actually performed above average. Another reader:
Chris Christie cannot get the Republican nod. "My religion says it’s a sin. But for me, I have always believed that people are born with the predisposition to be homosexual," he told Piers Morgan on Tuesday night. "And so I think if someone is born that way it’s very difficult to say then that that’s a sin. I understand that my church says that. But for me personally, I don’t look upon someone who's homosexual as a sinner." Hell, that's worse than being a Mormon.
(Photo: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie speaks at a Reform Agenda Town Hall meeting at the New Jersey Manufacturers Company facility March 29, 2011 in Hammonton, New Jersey. By Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images)
The Dish 