Is Chris Christie Running for Vice President?

If he had been standing up, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie may have sheepishly looked down, and said “Aw shucks.” Instead New Jersey Governor Chris Christie answered Meet the Press moderator David Gregory’s question about the possibility of running on a ticket with Mitt Romney with a humble, “If you were a betting guy, I would bet on Chris Christie still being the governor of New Jersey in 2012.”

Then Christie did something he has never done before after being asked the questions hundreds of times: He opened the door a little. “The fact of the matter is, if Governor Romney called me up to talk to me about being vice president, I love my country enough and I love my party enough to listen.” He opened the door a little more on Fox News, “If offered, my wife and would have a conversation and make a decision.”

Many speculated in October when the New Jersey governor made the announcement that he was not running for president and then almost immediately endorsed Romney, that some kind of deal had been struck. Christie insists “it never came up.” It has come up every media interview since then. And since then Christie has been the attack dog for gentleman Mitt Romney, saying that Romney rival Newt Gingrich “embarrassed the party” during that Meet the Press appearance. Attack dog is a role often given to the second on the ticket.

It is traditional wisdom in politics that you can’t run for vice president. Since warming to the possibility, Christie sure does seem to be giving it his best shot. In a move he called “historic,” on Monday, Christie nominated an openly gay African-American mayor and a Korean-American assistant attorney general to the Supreme Court. It sure seems like a big-tent move for a candidate who wants to appeal to moderates and independents in a general election. Remember that the vice-presidential nominee is usually chosen after the right-wing Republican primaries are long over.

Still, just to make certain he kept his conservative street cred, on Tuesday the Governor promised that he would veto a democratic initiative to legalize same-sex marriage in New Jersey and suggested a statewide referendum, a move that would most likely kill the initiative.

On Wednesday, a group that promotes Christie’s agenda announced a $1.5 million dollar television advertising campaign to tout the governor’s accomplishments. The group said they will buy air time in Philadelphia and New York. Wait a second! Christie doesn’t run for re-election until 2013. Why run campaign ads now? I guess you can run for vice president after all.

Yes, Chris Christie is most definitely going to Washington D.C.—tonight, in fact. Christie will be the keynote speaker to a gathering of New Jersey politicians, businessmen and lobbyists. Sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, the annual event is called “Walk to Washington.”

His words and actions this week indicate that he might prefer to get to Washington running.