Christie leaves door open for 2016 presidential bid

Kevin Johnson | USA TODAY

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, fresh from an overwhelming re-election victory last week, said Sunday that he intends to "run the state'' for the next four years, but left open the possibility of a Republican presidential bid.

"Listen, who knows,'' Christie said on ABC's This Week. "I don't know. I'm going to continue to do my job and finish the job. But everybody who is trying to figure out what life is going to bring you a few years from now, I didn't expect to be sitting here four years ago. ... So, nobody can make those predictions.''

On Fox News Sunday, Christie said "everybody's going to be speculating on what may come on my future and lots of other people's future in our party.

"The fact is,'' he said, "I'm focused on being the governor of New Jersey and being the chairman of the Republican Governors Association. I think those two jobs will keep me pretty busy over the next year."

On a tour of the Sunday talk shows, Christie dropped similar hints of a possible 2016 candidacy, yet he sidestepped questions on such politically charged issues as immigration and a possible setback in negotiations to freeze Iran's nuclear program.

"I think when guys like me start to shoot off on opinions about this kind of stuff, it's really ill-advised,'' Christie said on CBS' Face the Nation referring to the Iran talks. "I'll leave it to Secretary (of State John) Kerry and the folks that are in charge of this to make decisions about where we go. And then, once they put something together, if they do, then I'll make a judgment on that.''

On immigration, Christie urged Congress to "fix a broken system.'' Though he declined to say whether that solution should include provisions that he has supported, including a path to citizenship and college tuition relief for the undocumented.

"Listen, everyone is going to have a point of view on immigration, and a myriad of other issues,'' the governor said on ABC. "Well, let's have our argument out publicly, then let's get to the table, come to a consensus and then move on.''

Pressed again on whether that consensus should include citizenship and tuition relief, Christie said the "national solution has to be figured out by the people who are in charge of our national government. My job is to fix what's going on in New Jersey. ... I don't get to make those determinations.''

Christie did, however, say that President Obama's apology last week was "not enough'' for the flawed rollout of the Affordable Care Act.

"The fact is that the president didn't tell the truth,'' Christie said on CBS. "It turns out not to be true that people can keep their (health) insurance policies no matter what, that they can keep their doctor no matter what. And we need to confront that issue and the president needs to deal with it in a head-on way.''