Other than a major weather incident early in his term when he was out of town (at a fundraiser in Florida from what I remember), I've always given NJ Governor Chris Christie major props on his preparation and performance during natural disaster events in New Jersey. On Sunday afternoon, he held the first of what mostly likely will be a number of press conferences to discuss the disaster preparations for Hurricane Sandy's arrival. After a thorough and detailed report of those preparations, Christie finished with some comments regarding President Obama.
One additional positive Christie attribute is his putting the handling of these types of events far ahead of politics. Christie spoke of his phonecalls with FEMA, and was effusive when discussing the contents of a phonecall initiated by the president regarding potential federal assistance.
Video and more commentary below the fold.
The video is nine-minutes of edited coverage from the NJ Star-Ledger of the press coverage featuring the pertinent points. Christie's comments about the president begin around the eight-minute mark.
The Star-Ledger's article on the press conference states the president reached out to all of the northeast governors on a conference call. This storm will be well-prepared for at the federal level and, I can confidently say, in New Jersey as well. The is the "October Surprise" that Romney didn't want because, no matter how much VA Governor Bob McDonnell may downplay or be dismissive of any federal assist, Christie will be shouting praise from the highest mountain with a much louder megaphone. And exemplary federal performance during one of if not the worst storm to hit the northeast in a century will cement re-election for the president.