New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin do not agree on the impact a brokered Republican National Convention in August would have on their party’s chances in the general election.
A brokered convention would occur this summer if none of the remaining candidates is able to garner enough delegate votes to win a pre-existing majority. The candidates need to win a total of 1,144 delegate votes in order to win the pre-existing majority.
During her appearance at the 2012 Conservative Political Action Conference over the weekend, the former vice presidential candidate Ms. Palin stated that a brokered convention would not be “negative” for the Republican party.
The outspoken New Jersey governor blames the Republican National Party for the way the Republican primary election has promised to be a long and drawn out process this year.
Mr. Christie endorsed the current front-runner Mitt Romney, who has a total of 105 delegate votes thus far, according to The New York Times.
Mr. Christie does not his candidate to have to face a convention where his rival candidates could challenge him for the nomination.
“That’s stuff that folks in the media and in political punditry like to talk about because it’s like their dream come true, that we’d actually indecision going into a convention,” said Mr. Christie during a press conference Tuesday. “It hasn’t happened to the Republican Party since Wendell Willkie. I don’t think it’s going to be happening in 2012.”
In contrast, Ms. Palin told CNN “people who start screaming that a brokered convention is the worst thing, they have an agenda.”
Although Mr. Christie did not mention the former Alaska governor by name, his comments can certainly be directed towards her.
Furthermore, Ms. Palin has been supportive of Mr. Romney’s biggest rival thus far in the primary race, Mr. Gingrich.
Although she has never offered him a full endorsement of him, her husband has and she has consistently defended him against critics who believe he should have dropped out of the race by now.
Mathematically a brokered Republican National Convention could occur in 2012, especially since all of the remaining candidates have pledged to stay in the race until the convention in August.
Mr. Christie places the blame for that squarely on the RNC.
“The rules are working the way the rules were intended to work by the folks in the RNC. We voted against that rule, by the way, in New Jersey,” said Mr. Christie.
