TRENTON -- New Jersey lawmakers handed Gov. Chris Christie a stunning defeat Monday when a pair of controversial bills that the governor was pushing for stalled a week after they were introduced.

One measure, which would have permitted Christie to profit from a book deal while in office and allowed for millions of dollars in raises for hundreds of high-level government employees, effectively died when state Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) announced his chamber wouldn't vote on the issue Monday or reconsider it in the future.

Meanwhile, Prieto announced he was postponing a vote on the other bill, which would end a requirement that New Jersey businesses and local governments place legal ads in newspapers.

Here is a look at what could happen now:

1. Christie will likely have to wait for a book deal.

The Republican governor has not announced he is writing a book. But leaders of the Democratic-controlled state Legislature admit they reached an agreement to obtain Christie's support for the raises in exchange for loosening a state ethics law so he can cash in on a book. Current law says any sitting New Jersey governor cannot earn money beyond his or her $175,000 salary.

Now, Christie will likely have to wait until his second and final term is over in January 2018 to pen a book.

Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said Christie experienced a "bad day" Monday -- not long after President-elect Donald Trump did not nominate him as U.S. attorney general, despite early reports that the governor was a contender for the job.

"Now he can't even write about it and go on a lucrative book tour while he still has the trappings of office," Murray said.

2. Experts say the failed deal suggests Christie's clout may be dropping.

Monday's developments undercut one of Christie's strong suits the last seven years: his ability to cut a deal with Democrats to push through legislation. And it comes at a time when his record-low approval ratings have fallen into the teens.

Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester), a co-sponsor of the book legislation, said Christie's "lack of popularity" made discussion on the bill "more difficult than it otherwise would be."

Matthew Hale, a political science professor at Seton Hall University, said it was a "huge loss" because Christie's fellow Republicans helped lead the revolt.

"This failure may be a wake-up call to Christie that he needs to get back in the game and actually do his job," Hale said.

3. The newspaper issue isn't over.

Christie's office issued a statement Monday saying the newspaper bill "will be a top priority when we return from the holidays." Prieto agreed.

Democrats have accused Christie, who has had a rocky relationship with the New Jersey press, of pushing the measure as payback against the media.

"Not only is it wrong to do," state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) said, "it's the wrong reason to do it -- because Christie wants revenge."

Christie's office says the real issue is cost, claiming taxpayers and private businesses pay more than $80 million a year to publish legal notices -- a figure based off of "an internal tally of a sampling of daily newspapers."

The New Jersey Press Association disputes that figure, saying legal ads are a $20 million revenue source for the struggling industry, with almost 80 percent of ads coming from private sources such as banks doing foreclosures.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), a Democratic candidate running to succeed Christie in next year's governor's race, said Christie's numbers were an issue.

"Where are the figures coming from?" Wisniewski asked.

Prieto bristled when asked if he's bothered there hasn't been a "proper cost analysis" of the bill.

"Proper cost analysis? You have that at your fingertips," he told reporters. "So I don't need you to ask me that. Every newspaper knows the amount that they collect."

But Hale said support for the measure could increase if Christie can document where he got the $80 million number.

"The public isn't too happy with the press right now, so I wouldn't celebrate too much if I were a newspaper," he said.

4. Salary increases are in limbo again.

For the third time in three years, salary increases were used as the bargaining chip to allow Christie to cash in on a book deal while in office. This time, legislative staffers, cabinet members, judges, and county prosecutors would have gotten raises.

Lawmakers said the hikes were long overdue. But now that Prieto has declared the bill dead, they are back in limbo.

The nonpartisan state Office of Legislative Services estimated the raises would cost the state and county governments $7.45 million in 2017 and at least $10.6 million in 2018 and beyond.

Late Monday, some lawmakers said the public may not have liked giving Christie the chance to be paid for a book while in office, but the salary increases also weren't popular.

"Raising salaries should be a concern of the public," said Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R-Union), a Christie ally.

5. Experts say Democrats may have avoided troubled.

Murray said Democratic lawmakers up for re-election next year "are the ones who really dodged a potential bullet" when the book deal bill fell through.

"Imagine if voters decided to take their anger out on the culprits who enabled the governor's rampant ambition as he, and his taxpayer-funded security detail, were going from TV studio to studio hawking this book next fall," the pollster said.

Hale added that a big winner Monday was Phil Murphy, the Democratic front-runner in the 2017 governor's race.

Murphy issued a statement Monday applauding lawmakers for holding off on the newspaper bill, calling the legislation "a craven ploy to enrich Gov. Christie and kill an independent press corps at the expense of New Jersey's families."

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.