Some conservatives, Republican and otherwise, are still in a snit over Governor Christie's gushing over President Obama during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Then Christie berated John Boehner for tabling a bill releasing federal dollars for hurricane relief to aid his stricken state. Perhaps the outspoken governor is seen as not sufficiently conservative, much like Rudy Giuliani who was not on CPAC's invited speakers list in 2007 but for different lapses in conservative orthodoxy.

If Governor Christie can survive the hard-line conservative tendency to attack candidates who transgress, even slightly, from doctrinal purity, he may be a strong presidential contender in 2016. However, more transgressions will have him on even thinner ice.