Chris Christie continues to flirt with conservative base, despite denials of presidential aspirations

[Geee]

Daily Caller:

It’s the chase. In the same way adolescent males revel in the in the glory of chasing a would-be companion, conservatives revel in chasing after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in the hope he will run for president, despite his repeated and clear declarations that he will not in 2012.

Still, conservatives chase.

Last October, a “Draft Chris Christie” site was launched. Even before that – in April 2010, only three months after Christie was sworn into office,” Salon.com speculated whether the governor could be the “GOP dark horse for 2012.”

Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh famously told listeners, “Is it wrong to love another man? Because I love Chris Christie.”

More recently, conservative columnist Ann Coulter went so far as to say that if Christie doesn’t run, President Obama will win re-election. “If we don’t run Chris Christie, Romney will be the nominee and we’ll lose,” she said. Later, she added, “I don’t care if he wants to run. His country needs him.”

But at the Washington, D.C.-based American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Wednesday afternoon, where the venue was standing room only a full twenty minutes before his speech and brimming with the presidential buzz often associated with actual candidate appearances, Christie squashed presidential rumors with the thud of an abrupt breakup.