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Republican activists have a bridge to sell to anyone who thinks Chris Christie still has a shot at the White House.
A guilty plea in the Bridgegate scandal by one former appointee and federal charges against two aides make the New Jersey governor an also-ran before he even officially announces his run, according to the GOP faithful.
“This could probably be the death knell for him. This could be the endgame,” said veteran GOP consultant Ed Rollins.
“It will really impact his fund-raising and political support.”
Said former Sen. Al D’Amato, “Christie has a rocky road. The bloom is off.”
New York GOP consultant Bill O’Reilly described the developments as “drip, drip, drip water torture on Chris Christie’s political career . . . Shutting those lanes [on the George Washington Bridge] might be the dumbest political move in New Jersey history.”
The biggest worry for Christie is David Wildstein, a former high-ranking official at the Port Authority, which operates the bridge. Wildstein pleaded guilty to engineering huge traffic jams to get even with the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for refusing to endorse Christie’s re-election for governor.
Christie was not publicly implicated in any wrongdoing and insists he didn’t know about the shenanigans.
But Wildstein says he did and is prepared to provide the details.
US Attorney Paul Fishman says stay tuned for more news — meaning the scandal will drag on as Christie tries to mount a national campaign in a very crowded Republican field.
But not everyone is counting out the hard-charging governor.
GOP pollster Frank Luntz said Christie has taken an obvious hit but can recover.
“It raises questions Gov. Christie would rather not deal with. It becomes part of the record. The timing is not good. The conviction of [Wildstein] is not good,” Luntz said.
“It’s absolutely a problem. But I certainly don’t think it’s fatal.”



