The Reagan-Christie model: Column

Ford O'Connell | USATODAY

"Die-hard conservatives thought that if I couldn't get everything I asked for, I should jump off the cliff with the flag flying – go down in flames," a well-known Republican leader once said. "If I can get 70 or 80 percent of what it is I'm trying to get, I'll take that and then continue to try to get the rest in the future."

What would be considered heresy in today's GOP was uttered by Ronald Reagan. As a governor in cosmopolitan California, he balanced the budget by compromising on tax increases. Rather than eliminating welfare, as was his preference, he worked with California's Democrats to overhaul it. He signed into law the nation's first no-fault divorce legislation over conservative opposition.

Even more shocking than this heresy is another: No governor in America is more like Reagan than Chris Christie. This week, the New Jersey governor will offer a desperately needed lesson in political genius to a party currently going the way of the Whigs.

It is well past time for the rank-and-file GOP to forgive Chris Christie. The once GOP rising star rankled conservatives by daring to embrace Barack Obama during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Rush Limbaugh, for example, said Christie played "the role of Greek column" for Obama's campaign. But the truth is that Christie's actions were those of the smartest Republican leader America has seen in decades. Without sacrificing a single ideological principle, he brought relief to his state and established himself as a leader above the petty politics Americans deplore.

Compare Christie's model to the campaign of gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli, a rigid ideologue who appeals only to his conservative base and who looks on track to lose in once reliably red Virginia to, of all things, a Clintonite.

Christie is not a perfect messenger, to be sure. Only a few years ago, he seemed almost certain to face a tough re-election fight due to his outspokenness, a sense of extremism and his girth. But while he has maintained a record as a rock-solid conservative, Christie has shown he knows how to govern in an arctic-blue state that Republican presidential candidates haven't won since 1988, and as he'll show next week when he is re-elected by a landslide, he also knows how to win.

The winning combination starts with a willingness to work with people who disagree with you. Reagan had a great relationship with the Democratic Speaker of the California Assembly, and as president with Speaker Tip O'Neill. Similarly, Christie's relationship with New Jersey's heavily Democratic legislature has made possible the passage of spending cuts, pension reform, public employee benefits reform, and teacher tenure reform. For Reagan, cooperation made possible his economic revolution. For Christie, it has saved a state budget that was spiraling toward catastrophe.

To win elections, you need to show people that you're for them, even if they're not (yet) for you. Reagan did this so effectively that a new term entered the political lexicon: Reagan Democrat. Likewise, Christie appealed to Hispanics by endorsing a "clear path to citizenship" and in-state college tuition for illegal aliens. He also appealed to moderates and law enforcement by telling a disappointed and combative Sean Hannity, "I favor some of the gun-control measures we have in New Jersey." And he appealed to the gay community and young voters who support gay rights by abandoning a hopeless legal challenge to defend traditional marriage.

The governor also appealed to voters beyond his base when he lambasted the Republican Congress for delaying a disaster-relief bill for victims of Hurricane Sandy. His message to New Jersey's residents was that they mattered more to him than politics or partisan loyalty. Christie sent the same message by spending countless hours touring the battered Jersey shore, hugging survivors, speaking emotionally about his state's loss, and – most controversially – praising Obama for his help just days before Obama's re-election.

If Republicans want to avoid becoming a regional party condemned to a minority status, our best and brightest should hop on a train to Trenton, get out their notepads, and ask Christie for help. After that, they should make him Chairman of the Republican National Committee. With Christie at the helm, the New Jersey miracle could be repeated across the country – just in time for what might otherwise be a surprisingly dismal 2014 midterm election.

Ford O'Connell is the chairman of the CivicForumPAC, worked on the 2008 McCain-Palin presidential campaign and is author of the forthcoming book, Hail Mary: The 10-Step Playbook for Republican Recovery.

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