Fans of New Jersey Gov.
Chris Christie just won’t take no for an answer, even though the Republican governor has repeatedly said he has no plans to run for president in 2012. Case in point: A team of Republicans from Iowa, one of the first states to weigh in on the GOP primary race, are trekking to the Garden State to try and recruit Christie for a presidential run, the Des Moines Register reported Tuesday.
"This is the first and only one,” Mike DuHaime, an adviser to Christie, told the newspaper on Monday about the recruiting visit. “This is unique.”
Christie repeated on Monday his mantra about not running for president. That has not deterred his supporters.
"We just want him to know he's welcome in Iowa, but it's nothing against the rest," said Gary Kirke, a business entrepreneur from West Des Moines. "He's a get-in-your-face type of guy. Real leadership and no BS."
Kirke and Bruce Rastetter, a GOP fundraiser, are assembling a delegation of six or seven heavy hitters in Iowa Republican circles to try to woo the reluctant Christie. They have a dinner date with him at the New Jersey governor's mansion on May 31.
"Chris Christie would make a great candidate, in my view, but there are others that would be much better than Barack Obama," said Rastetter, chief executive of Summit Farms.
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