DID CHRISTIE SABOTAGE ROMNEY?

Tomorrow is the big debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney.  For the past week, both sides have been downplaying expectations for their candidate — except for one loud mouth partisan:  New Jersey’s Gov. Chris Christie.

This past Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Christie broke the first rule of Debate 101 by unwisely raising expectations for his party’s presidential nominee.

“Wednesday night is the restart of this (Romney’s) campaign, and I think you’re going to see those numbers start to move right back in the other direction,” Christie said. “And I’m telling you, Thursday morning, you’re all going to be scratching your heads and saying, ‘Wow, we have a barn-burner now for the next 33 days.’ “

Christie’s big mouth just painted Romney into an inescapable corner.  By raising expectations so high, any performance short of what Christie has promised us from Romney will be considered a failure.  Since debates traditionally have little effect on deciding an election, particularly this late in the game, Christie just created an impossible task for Romney.

By contrast, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said: “We have expected all along that Gov. Romney will have a good night. He has prepared more than any candidate in history.  And he has shown himself to be a very, very good debater through the years.”  By keeping Romney’s expectations high and Mr. Obama’s low, Plouffe got it exactly right.  Even if Mr. Obama turns in just an average performance, it will still be seen as better than what anyone expected.

Did Christie’s ignorant and arrogant mouth create a strategic and political blunder?  Or did Christie purposely sabotage Romney, in the hopes of seeking the nomination for himself in 2016 against an open ticket??