New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is "by far, far and away" the Republican frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race, veteran Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer says.
"People say he can't win the nomination. I don't believe that," Krauthammer told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
"He is, by far, far and away, the frontrunner right now . . . If you had to put your money in Vegas, the shortest odds would be on Christie winning the nomination."
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"Now, he's going to have trouble in Iowa. He'll have trouble in other places. But I don't think the Republicans want to commit hari kari . . . I don't necessarily think he's going to win, but they've lost twice."
Krauthammer, author of the new book "Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics," is emphatic that Christie's not a liberal as some conservatives claim.
"Christie is not a liberal. He's pro-life, he's unequivocally pro-life, he's against gay marriage which is a pretty conservative position right now given how the country is changing many people. But this is not a man who came out of left field," Krauthammer said.
"There are areas where conservatives will disagree with him but if you find a guy who wins by 22 points in a deeply, deeply Democratic state, you've got to take a look at him because whatever you think of moderation amongst some conservatives, it sure beats having a Democrat, a [Barack] Obama, or a [Bill] Clinton in the White House."
On the subject of the ongoing Affordable Care Act debacle and Obama's apology to Americans whose insurance policies have been canceled, Krauthammer said the president's rollout has been a "complete disaster."
"It turned out to be [Obama is] not the Superman he said he was . . . I mean the thing is, apart from the fact that he's the most far-left president in at least 70 years, is the fact that he leads from behind on foreign policy and he doesn't lead at all on domestic," he said.
"For him to say, I got burned on that computer website? I mean what is he a bystander? Has he stumbled across something called Obamacare, picked it up and said, what's this?
"He apologized for the dislocation people are feeling but he needs to apologize for misleading the country into believing that the vast majority of Americans who are happy with their healthcare would be left alone and it turns out that this is exactly what people like me have been arguing for five years."
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