Christie lashes 'know-nothing, disgruntled' Romney aides

After HuffPo's Jon Ward last night quoted a Mitt Romney campaign source, complaining that Chris Christie hadn't taken time to come to their rally in Pennsylvania, about 20 miles from the Trenton statehouse, on Sunday night, a Christie source told me that Romney had been personally told shortly after the storm that Christie couldn't travel because of the devastation in his state.

And this morning, Christie made that clear, via HuffPo:

"I told Gov. Romney at that time that if the storm landed as predicted that it was going to be catastrophic to New Jersey and unprecedented," Christie said. "I said to him, 'Listen, Mitt, if this storm hits the way I think it's going to, I'm off the campaign trail from here to Election Day.' And he said to me, 'Chris, of course. Do your job, don't worry about me. I'll take care of things.' So all this other noise, I think, is coming from know-nothing, disgruntled Romney staffers who, you know, don't like the fact that I said nice things about the president of the United States. Well, that's too bad for them." "He told me last Sunday night that he expected no other political travel or help from me over the course of the remaining time between then and the election, if in fact the storm hit the way it was projected," Christie continued. "If it missed us, I would have been happy to go out on the road and help him. But it didn't."

(Also on POLITICO: Voters in N.J., N.Y. not deterred by storm's effects)

This level of frustration from Christie, who has been criticized privately by Romney insiders for a week now since he praised Obama, was pretty predictable once it all spilled out into the open. If Romney loses, there may still be some who hope to blame Christie, but most Republicans have avoided doing that publicly, given the magnitude of the storm and the New Jersey governor's star power in the party.

If Romney wins, things may be different.

(Also on POLITICO: Chris Christie: Call from Springsteen made me weep)