Gov. Chris Christie may consider running as Romney’s VP

New York, NY, United States (4E) – While Gov. Chris Christie previously stated that he will never be Mitt Romney’s running mate in November, he now seems to be considering it should he receive such an offer. The outspoken New Jersey governor told CNBC in an interview Tuesday that he is opening the possibility of a Romney-Christie tandem in the fall.

Christie has been among the most prominent names speculated to be picked by the former Massachusetts governor and the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. A few months ago Christie considered entering the presidential derby but eventually ended up becoming among the first GOP governors to throw support on Romney in the middle of a hotly contested presidential primary.

Christie’s popularity and his blunt-speaking approach made him among the top contenders before for the party’s presidential race and now for the vice presidential spot.

Other leading Republican personalities believed to be in Romney’s short list of running mates include Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).

Christie feels confident about Romney’s chances in the elections despite last week’s high court ruling on the health care reform that gave the Obama campaign a boost. The Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of the law’s individual mandate requiring all Americans to have health insurance. Christie does not agree with that decision.

Christie would have to reconcile his differing opinion about the issue should he be chosen by Romney as his VP. He believes that the law’s individual mandate provision is a tax. He said in an interview on Fox and Friends Tuesday that he does not think of it as exclusively a tax or a penalty, but rather both.

Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior Romney campaign advisor, asserted on Monday and this was later confirmed by the campaign that Romney thinks the mandate is a penalty and not a tax. Romney is expected to argue that the healthcare mandate is a tax because it was modeled on the health care plan that he implemented while he was governor of Massachusetts. 

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