Chris Christie

W hether or not he lets himself be persuaded to run for president, Chris Christie needs to find some way to lose weight. Like everyone else, elected officials perform best when they are in optimal health. Christie obviously is not. You could argue that this is none of my business, but I disagree. Christie's problem with weight ceased being a private matter when he stepped into the public arena — and it's not something you can fail to notice. Obesity is a national epidemic whose costs are measured not just in dollars and cents but also in...

PRINCETON, N.J. — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he underwent secret weight-loss surgery because he had been feeling frustrated and angry over his inability to slim down. The governor told people attending an event at a Princeton bookstore on Tuesday that he got upset with himself when his clothing wouldn't fit. The Record newspaper (http://bit.ly/11E1lRm ) reports Christie appeared at the shop with MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski to promote Brzezinski's new...

You might call it the off-year comeuppance: In every one of Virginia's past nine gubernatorial contests, the Old Dominion has rejected the party of the president elected only a year before. Whether that pattern holds true in 2013 could depend on how well Democrats and Republicans learned the lessons of 2012. The contest will also be watched closely for signs of where things might be headed nationally in 2014's midterm elections. At least as important is which of the two all-but-certain...

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. — Britain's Prince Harry is heading to New York City after finishing a tour of two New Jersey towns hard hit by Superstorm Sandy. Gov. Chris Christie led the prince along the rebuilt boardwalk in Seaside Heights, where the MTV reality show "Jersey Shore" was taped. The prince also saw the roller coaster that Sandy tossed into the sea. The two played a game of chance, tossing plastic balls at a hole and giving the prizes to children who they were...

Trenton Near the statehouse office of New Jersey's 55th governor sits a sort of shrine to the 34th. Fortunately, Chris Christie is unlike Woodrow Wilson . Christie, who resembles Falstaff in girth and Jack Dempsey in pugnacity, is a visceral politician who thrives on conflict. Wilson — lean, intellectual and pious, particularly about himself — regarded opposition as impious. Wilson acquired the governorship, his first elective office, in January 1911, having learned about government mostly from books he wrote about it....

TAMPA — Mitt Romney may be the Republican Party's presidential nominee and Paul Ryan the ­running mate, but Chris Christie takes a back seat to no one in the GOP. The New Jersey governor was once a possible rival to Romney. Although he insisted that he didn't think he was ready to be president, Christie had to keep swatting away speculation and encouragement to jump into the race at a time when the party was still learning to love Romney. Christie had a tough assignment on Tuesday night.

TRENTON, N.J. Coyness is not part of Chris Christie's repertoire, which does not stress subtlety, delicacy and intimation. New Jersey's governor is more Mickey Spillane than Jane Austen, and his persona, which sometimes is that of a bulldog who got up on the wrong side of the bed, is so popular that he seems to be cruising toward reelection this November and does not deny that he might look beyond that. His budget for 2013 calls for spending less than did the state's 2008 budget.

Chris Christie must have spent the last week feeling a bit like one of those bodies on a crime show. He was poked and prodded, turned this way and that, examined from head to toe. He was found to be too fat, too aggressive, too undisciplined, too angry and — not insignificantly — too late into the race. Running for president is like intensive psychoanalysis. You find out a lot about yourself. Right off the bat, Christie was denounced as criminally obese not just by some important columnists — Eugene...

A pair of polls out this week shows the dire state the Republican Party finds itself in — and a way out of the wilderness, should Republicans choose to take it. Poll No. 1: Rasmussen Reports found that views of the tea party — the wing of Republicanism that dominates party primaries and therefore the congressional Republican caucuses — at a new low. Only 8 percent of likely voters considered themselves tea-party members, down from 24...

Gov. Chris Christie is one of seven recipients of the 2011 Top American Leaders awards, bestowed by The Washington Post's On Leadership section and the Harvard Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership. This year's recipients were chosen by a selection committee convened by the Center for Public Leadership, and will be honored at Ford's Theatre on December 5, 2011. Visit On Leadership to see more of the winners' profiles. Chris Christie is not, to put it...

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. — Britain's Prince Harry toured two New Jersey shore communities devastated by Superstorm Sandy, shaking hands with emergency personnel and construction workers before spending Tuesday afternoon in New York City at events promoting tourism, entrepreneurism and philanthropy. He even got a chance to play a little baseball. In Seaside Heights, where the MTV reality show "Jersey Shore" was made, Harry and his tour guide, Gov. Chris Christie, also took part in a...

"Despite different points of view, committed partners can accomplish great things together when the world needs it. And this is one of those moments. " — Secretary of State John Kerry after the U.S. and Russia agreed to try to convene an international conference this month to come to a political solution to end the two-year Syrian civil war. ___ "I don't want just more speeches or awareness programs or training, or ultimately folks look the other way. We're going to have to not just step up our game, we have to exponentially step up...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who is seen as a possible presidential candidate for 2016, said Tuesday that he underwent a procedure in February to have a band implanted around his stomach in February in an effort to lose weight. A look at the procedure, his decision, and what it might mean: ___ THE SURGERY Christie says he decided around the time he turned 50 on Sept. 6 that he wanted to have the procedure. It was originally scheduled for...

NEWARK, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie, who once famously called himself "the healthiest fat guy you've ever seen," disclosed Tuesday he had secretly undergone weight-loss surgery, a major new step by the potential Republican presidential contender to address both his health and a political vulnerability. The stakes are high for Christie, with medical professionals and campaign strategists alike suggesting there is no more serious barrier to his personal well-being and...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said he underwent weight-loss surgery three months ago to improve his long-term health after trying unsuccessfully over many years to lose weight. "I've struggled with this issue for 20 years," he said Tuesday. "For me, this is about turning 50 and looking at my children and wanting to be there for them. " He told reporters that it was not a career issue, and that the surgery was his idea alone. His aides said he had the procedure, known as gastric band...

TRENTON, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie will guest-host the "Today" show later this month. NBC announced Tuesday that Christie will be a co-host for an hour of the May 24 show, which will broadcast from the Jersey shore as part of its "Great American Adventure" road trip. A location for the appearance hasn't been finalized. The road trip segment involves the show's anchors traveling together to five U.S. destinations in a single week. Christie has stressed...

In his May 29 op-ed column, " The right running mate for Romney ," Michael Gerson wrote that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), "at his worst, is capable of nastiness and name-calling — tendencies he would need to keep in check on a national ticket. " Having seen Mr. Christie in action in interviews and on talk shows, I believe that his behavior is that of a bully. At a time when bullying is being addressed in schools and in the media, why on earth would anyone choose such a man as a running mate?

WASHINGTON — The government says firearm-related homicides have fallen 39 percent since the mid-1990s, from 18,253 in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011. The study also says that in 2011, about 70 percent of all homicides were committed with a firearm, mainly a handgun. The report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics also found that non-fatal firearm crimes have declined 69 percent since the mid-1990s, from 1.5 million in 1993 to 467,300 in 2011. The trend in firearm-related homicides is part of a broad nationwide decline in violent...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has spoken out publicly about his struggle with weight on many occasions, starting when he first ran for the state's highest office in 2009. He has frequently joked about his size while also seeking to identify with other Americans struggling to shed pounds, though he has never said how much he weighs. Some comments Christie has made about his weight and other related developments: ___ OCTOBER 2009: A TV ad for Democratic Gov....