“[Cory] Booker would rather be seen on Oprah’s couch than in City Hall,” former Newark mayor Sharpe James remarked of a successor he once defeated long ago, before he became a convicted felon, to the Star-Ledger shortly after leaving jail. Mayor Cory Booker– the media darling, the movie star, the executive of a post-industrial tragedy of a city– has always had an image of being just a bit on the safe side for a New Jersey politician, a little too much of a goody two-shoes. Perhaps knowing, perhaps otherwise, the Mayor tore off the yoke of of a pristine reputation from his chest yesterday in what many are considering a “gaffe”: attacking the President of his party (and his nation) with the vocabulary of a true New Jersey politician. And by turning the Democratic National Committee against him, Mayor Booker may have just put potential 2012 gubernatorial rival Gov. Chris Christie in checkmate.

Well… this was unexpected. Gov. Chris Christie, as a poll released this week clearly showed, may be one of the most popular politicians in New Jersey history—challenged in that positive spotlight only be Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s exploits saving people from fires by hand and driving around town shoveling snow. In a comedy sketch released by Christie this week, he pokes fun at his frustration with Booker’s apparent superhero antics until he finds the one thing Booker can’t handle: a call from Mitt Romney.

The numbers are out for Gov. Chris Christie, and a Fairleigh Dickinson poll out today spells great news for America’s loudest governor: a 56% approval rating. A paltry number in other states, perhaps, but in New Jersey, those numbers seem impossibly high for any public servant at the state level. The Washington Post‘s Aaron Blake attempts to rationalize the numbers as the residents’ fault: “New Jersey voters are notoriously tough on their politicians.” As a lifelong resident of the Garden State, I object: it isn’t that New Jersey voters are notoriously tough on their politicians– it’s that New Jersey politicians are notoriously bad.

This morning, the National Review reports that, according to New Jersey political insiders, Chris Christie would be “comfortable” accepting the vice-presidential nomination, should presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney offer it to him.

New Jersey Governor and potential Mitt Romney running mate Chris Christie delivered the keynote address at Washington DC’s libertarian Cato Institute as the keynote speaker on Friday night, but things got off to a rough start when he referred to the audience as “committed conservatives.”

New Jersey’s outspoken Republican governor and possible contender for the vice presidential spot on the GOP ticket in November, Chris Christie, is under attack from his right on Tuesday morning. National Review’s Daniel Pipes and Steve Emerson have taken Christie on for his “Islam problem” and concluded that Christie is unfit to serve as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s running mate.

Chris Christie was the target of one of Jimmy Kimmel‘s jokes this past weekend, during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. And not too surprisingly, they were about his weight. Christie brushed it off though. After all, he had Sofia Vergara next to him to console him.

“It’s been a very bad week for [President Obama],” Ann Coulter told Sean Hannity as their segment tonight opened. The two agreed, it was quickly made clear, that the President’s appearance on last night’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon made him look “silly,” and actually hurt his image.

It is the cross that all people from New Jersey must bear that, at some point in your public life, someone will question your level of appreciation for guitar-wielding legendary rock mumbler Bruce Springsteen (incidentally, this is why I can never run for office). Governor Chris Christie is not immune to such accusations of blasphemy, as someone snapped a photo of him with his eyes closed during a Springsteen concert at Madison Square Garden last week. Sensing the depths of this potential scandal, the Christie administration immediately went into damage control to clarify that he was not, in fact, sleeping, but having a “spiritual” moment with the greatness of Springsteen’s tunes.

On Tuesday morning, President George W. Bush appeared with Gov. Chris Christie at a conference about tax policy — run by the President George W. Bush Institute. Bush, who has not endorsed a Republican candidate, said it’s not good for the country to “undermine” the president.

Appearing at the New York Historical Society just after former President George W. Bush finished speaking in defense of lower taxes on the nation’s highest income earners, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said that the government is fostering a “paternalistic entitlement society” and he feared that the country was becoming a nation of “people sitting on a couch waiting for their next government check.”

On Wednesday, appearing on CBS This Morning, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was asked to comment on former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin assertion on Fox News Channel’s Hannity that likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney should select Rep. Allen West (R-FL) as his eventual running mate. McCain responded, “I think it should be Sarah Palin,” to laughs from the CBS hosts.

Chris Christie has made a name for himself around the country for being one of the more idiosyncratic governors in the country– as Seth Meyers once said, “you never forget which state he is governor of.” Take this somewhat surreal speech Christie gave this week in Atlantic City, where he delicately addresses the political differences between himself and rock person Bruce Springsteen, and asks “The Boss” to play a concert in Atlantic City on Labor Day, for the folks.

Chris Christie is rapidly emerging as Mitt Romney‘s most valuable surrogate and he came out swinging this week in Chicago, telling an audience at a rally to be “very leery” of members of Congress– which, of course, all the remaining non-Romney candidates are. Namely, he phrased it as putting “another member of Congress” in there, implying that much of President Obama’s faults are beyond ideology and boil down to experience.

Daily Rundown host Chuck Todd stopped by the set of Morning Joe early Thursday as the panel took another look at Fox News’ Wednesday afternoon interview with GOP candidate Mitt Romney. Todd felt that Fox News has a “funny” relationship to Romney. RELATED: Mika Brzezinski On Fox News’ Romney Interview: ‘They’re Treating Him Terribly’ “And [...]

Another day, another incident of Chris Christie snapping at someone. This time, he was discussing a Rutgers University merger and taking questions from his listeners. After one student’s question, Christie firmly stated what his plans are — and then proceeded to call the student an “idiot.”

In the political world, “the Buffett rule” — which basically advocates for higher taxes on the rich — has become a polarizing term. Recently, Chris Christie said Warren Buffett should “just write a check and shut up.” On Monday, Buffett responded to the comment during a CNBC segment.

During his appearance on Face the Nation today, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was asked by Bob Schieffer what he thought of Rick Santorum‘s comments criticizing President Obama‘s goals to encourage everyone in the United States to go to college. Santorum called Obama a “snob” for it, but Christie disagreed with this assessment. The governor said students should be at the very least encouraged to go to college.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie appeared on Face the Nation today to make the case for Mitt Romney ahead of Tuesday’s critical primaries in Michigan and Arizona. He said that he fully expects Romney to win in Michigan, a state that the candidate has certainly been hard at work to win, but did not discount the possibility of Romney losing the state and the nominating convention in August would grow incredibly contentious with no candidate having enough delegates to safely claim the nomination.

Who would have thought that Gov. Chris Christie would have such good chemistry with legendary radio curmudgeon Don Imus? The New Jersey governor visited Imus on Thursday morning, where the two chatted about everything from sneaking booze into Bruce Springsteen concerts to Christie’s daughter’s sweet 16.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was seemingly surprised — at least at first — when plucky Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart appeared on Morning Joe and held his feet to the fire over his decision to veto same-sex marriage, or, as Capehart saw it, putting civil rights up for a referendum.

Jon Stewart had a few bones to pick with social conservatives today, and though he began attacking Chris Christie for vetoing the same-sex marriage bill, trying to explain to him that his take wasn’t much different from banning, say, fat people from getting married, but then moved on to the mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds proposed for women who want abortions in Virginia. His best guess at a comparison? Like something out of A Clockwork Orange.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is very busy these days running his state, and during his extended conversation with Piers Morgan tonight took the time to discuss what what going on there, too. But Morgan led off the interview with Christie’s big national job as surrogate for Mitt Romney, a job Christie took to working on with gusto. Attacking President Obama for putting on a “theater performance,” Christie told Morgan he hoped people would be exposed more to Romney’s “enormous compassion.”

The latest battleground for same-sex marriage has become New Jersey, where Gov. Chris Christie is poised to veto a bill passed by the state’s legislature that would allow same sex couples to marry. Gov. Christie will be Piers Morgan‘s guest on his program tonight, where the host challenged the Governor on his decision, and asked whether he felt his position would become increasingly outdated as more states accepted same-sex marriage.

After a powerful and emotional service that featured a long list of illustrious speakers and spectacular performances, Pastor Marvin Winans stood before the audience to give his eulogy, to remind the church that they were there first and foremost to praise God for giving them the opportunity of living and knowing Whitney Houston. The crowd received him enthusiastically, and after his thank you to New Jersey governor Chris Christie, gave the governor a standing ovation.