Wildstein has already been subpoenaed to appear before the Assembly Transportation Committee, and yesterday pleaded the 5th before its members, while his attorney sat next to him and pleaded openly for the legislature, state attorney general and New Jersey's U.S. Attorney to grant his client full immunity from prosecution in exchange for his cooperation.

Likewise, Kelly is expected to be subpoenaed by legislators within a matter of days, and may well be seeking similar assurances in exchange for her testimony. Entirely understandable, given that neither would want to see themselves placed in legal jeopardy for things they told legislators under oath in a public hearing.

(In Hawaii, the state legislature's grant of immunity to a witness under oath effectively binds the hands of local prosecutors and the state attorney general with regards to whatever that witness subsequently tells lawmakers, but does not preclude federal authorities from seeking charges should a violation of federal law have occurred. I'm assuming that New Jersey law is much the same. In all of my 18 years at the Hawaii Legislature, we granted immunity to only one witness, and that was the girlfriend of the then-State Superintendent of Education, who then explained to us in detail how several DOE no-bid contracts were steered in her company's direction by his staff.)

Absent a backroom deal between the governor and those two, and because his denial was so apparently absolute, Chris Christie is dead in the water if either Kelly or Wildstein says but two words to state legislators: "He knew."

At that point, if the governor doesn't resign, state lawmakers would no doubt subpoena him to appear before them and explain himself. If he refuses to do so by virtue of claiming executive privilege, he would no doubt be risking his impeachment by the Assembly, subsequent dismissal from office by the State Senate, and consignment to the litter box of political history.

All this is entirely speculative of course, and predicated entirely upon the notion that Christie knows more than he's heretofore admitted publicly. And as of this writing, there's no evidence to indicate that he does. Whether that in fact changes as we learn more, we'll just have to see.

But this has thus far been a fascinating political story which has unfolded in New Jersey, and I'll be staying tuned for further developments.

LBJ could successfully twist arms on Capitol Hill because he was its creature. He knew exactly how Congress worked and which buttons to push, because he knew where the bodies were buried, so to speak -- that is, he knew its members' strengths and weaknesses personally, and wasn't at all hesitant about exploiting either of them for the benefit of his own political agenda. Nor did he recoil at calling in chits from members for past political favors.

At heart, Johnson was an almost stereotypical political operative, the kind of backroom backslapper and wheeler-dealer that many will always profess to abhor, but which nevertheless is so often instrumental in breaking legislative logjams and carrying the water to the finish line. He knew how the game is played, and quite frankly, he enjoyed and even relished playing it.
That's why he was so successful in the first half of his presidency in getting so many landmark pieces of legislation to his Oval Office desk for signature and approval.

By contrast, Chris Christie's entire political career is the resultant product of a volatile mix of personal bravado, a lot of chutzpah, and no small amount of methane and hot air. And if you ignore the political rhetoric and really look to his public record as governor, you'll note that he really hasn't been all that successful in his dealings with the New Jersey legislature, with which his public relationship has been bitterly contentious at times.

(Given my own personal experience, I would offer that most longtime state legislators are highly experienced political players in their own right, and they really don't respond well at all to perceived bullying from the governor's office, which tends to thus ensure the opposite of its intended effect. As so many longtime local Democratic legislators did during the eight years that Republican Linda Lingle served as governor out here, they simply chose to ignore her and wait her out, secure in the knowledge that when she eventually left office, many of them would still be there. And the Democratic preponderance in numbers was such that she couldn't do anything without their expressed approval.)

Assuming for the moment that Christie survives this scandal and subsequently gets elected president, what makes you believe that he'll be any more successful with Congress than he was with Garden State legislators?

Gov. Christie's entire story hangs upon the willingness of his now-former deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly and now-former Port Authority executive David Wildstein to keep their mouths shut and take the fall for the Ft. Lee debacle.

Donald, you do not have the vaguest about whether or not Christie was involved. And neither do I.

Yet you write:

"...to keep their mouths shut and take the fall for the Ft. Lee debacle."

That, pure and simple, is an accusation and demonstrates the partisanship that runs through every fiber of your body.

If the new batch of documents shows differently, he's got big problems.

Wow!

A Republican reaching across the aisle praising the Democrat in the White House.

Obama is pumped up.
Christie is puffed up.

Chapter Two:  Obama's ratings begin to sink. One mess after another. The lame duck blahs loom.

Meanwhile Christie's stock rises. A moderate republican who can unite us all. A man of the people.

Time to blow that boy out of the water.
Time for Humpty Dumpty to take a great fall.

The public paid far more attention to last week's cold snap than to the controversy swirling around New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. There also has been little short-term change in opinions about Christie: 60% say their opinion of Christie has not changed in recent days, while 16% now view him less favorably and 6% more favorably.

The national survey by the Pew Research Center, conducted Jan. 9-12 among 1,006 adults, finds that just 18% paid very close attention to Christie's apology on Jan. 9 for the highway lane closures ordered by his aides. By contrast, 44% very closely followed news about the cold winter weather that gripped much of the U.S. and 28% tracked news about the economy.

The release of a book by former Defense Secretary Robert Gates that criticized the Obama administration drew even less interest than news about Christie. Just 11% followed news about Gates' book very closely.

The survey finds that majorities of Republicans (69%), Democrats (55%) and independents (60%) say that their opinion of Christie has not changed lately. Among Republicans, about as many say their opinion has become more favorable (9%) as less favorable (10%).

Go figure.

New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie is more of a leader than a bully, voters say 54 - 40 percent today, one of his lowest "bully" scores since the Quinnipiac University poll first asked the question June 17, 2010.

Gov. Christie gets positive marks on key characteristics: Voters say 51 - 41 percent that he is honest and trustworthy; 74 - 23 percent that he is a strong leader and 55 - 41 percent that he cares about their needs and problems.

Today's results show more leader and less bully than the 50 - 45 percent results in a July 17, 2012, survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University.

Today, men say 53 - 42 percent that Christie is more of a leader than a bully and women agree 55 -39 percent. Opting for "leader" are Republicans 78 - 17 percent and independent voters 55 - 40 percent. Democrats say 56 - 37 percent that the governor is more of a bully.

New Jersey voters approve 55 - 38 percent of the job Gov. Christie is doing, down from his all-time high 74 - 22 percent February 20, 2013. Women approve 55 - 37 percent while men approve 54 - 39 percent. Approval among Democrats drops from 56 - 38 percent last February to a negative 36 - 55 percent today.

"New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie is doing better with the public than with the news media. His job approval has dropped from the stratosphere, but it's still double-digit positive, pretty much where he was before his Superstorm Sandy hug with President Barack Obama," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"We stopped asking that 'bully' question 18 months ago. But we tried it again and, even with all the 'Bridgegate' stories, he still scores higher as a leader than as a bully. Except with Democrats. More than half of them still say 'bully' - and not in a good way."

Some 93 percent of all New Jersey voters have read or heard something about the controversy surrounding the September traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge.

Voters in that group say 66 - 22 that the governor did not personally order the traffic jam. Even Democrats say 53 - 32 percent that Christie was not involved.