Clinton and Christie, 2 Politicians Sharing Wonk-Speak CHICAGO - They first bonded over basketball and sparred in the rough and tumble of a political campaign, admiring each other as master politicians. But appearing on stage together here on Friday, former President Bill Clinton and Gov. Chris Christie were nothing so much as two chummy wonks, casually dropping acronyms into discussions of zoning codes, land use and federal money for hazard mitigation. Mr. Christie, who as governor of New Jersey has cultivated an image more everyman than scholar, insisted he did not want to get "into the weeds." But shown the way, he waded in so far that Mr. Clinton had to explain to the audience what Mr. Christie meant by NOAA: "They monitor the oceans." The abbreviation is for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Certainly, the event packed potential for political intrigue. Mr. Clinton, a Democrat and the husband of a possible Democratic presidential contender in 2016, had invited Mr. Christie, a potential Republican presidential contender in 2016, for a one-on-one "conversation" that was the capstone to the annual three-day Clinton Global Initiative. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for those keeping score, spoke at the event on Thursday. Mr. Christie has spent the last six months thumbing his nose at his party - among other things, touring the hurricane-ravaged Jersey Shore with President Obama the week before Election Day and calling a news conference to blast the Republican speaker of the House when he did not expedite recovery money after the storm. Mr. Clinton welcomed Mr. Christie on stage saying, "Now we're going to have some fun." He wanted to talk about Hurricane Sandy's devastation to the tristate area and "what happens in a disaster after the cameras go home." Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York had also been invited to join in the discussion but could not attend. Mr. Clinton had spoken earlier about the effect of climate change on severe weather events; Mr. Christie has flatly dismissed the idea that global warming contributed to Hurricane Sandy. But there were no sparks of ideological difference when the two men spoke - the closest it got was when Mr. Christie said that government should give up its monopoly on flood insurance. Instead, the two men sat on leather club chairs in front of several hundred people in a ballroom, each holding a microphone. Mr. Clinton, in a blue tie, mostly listened as Mr. Christie, in a red tie, talked about flood maps and dune restoration. There was the occasional warm exchange: "If you could make federal policy by fiat," Mr. Clinton began. How great would that be? Mr. Christie interrupted. "Looks better to me all the time," Mr. Clinton said wistfully. Mr. Christie and Mr. Clinton first met at the most recent wedding of Donald J. Trump, when Mr. Christie was United States attorney for New Jersey in the administration of then-President George W. Bush. When Mr. Christie ran for governor in 2009, Mr. Clinton campaigned for the man he unseated, Jon S. Corzine. The two men later found themselves sitting a row apart at a Big East basketball game and began talking easily. "I thought, "This is going to wreck this guy's career," " Mr. Clinton recalled. "Maybe he can get elected in New Jersey, but everyone else is going to say, "My God, he's consorting with a leper." " But the governor did not shy away, Mr. Clinton recalled: "As long as I could talk about basketball it was all right with him." They got along so well that Mr. Clinton invited the governor to chat with him in his office in Harlem. They have a few things in common besides basketball. Both are known for loquacious late-night telephone calls and showing up late to events. Both have struggled with complicated relationships with food. Both have tried to drag their soul-searching parties to the center. Mr. Christie must win re-election in a blue state before he can focus on running for president, so appearing with Mr. Clinton can hardly hurt him in the short-term. But he is also trying to cast himself as a rare pragmatist who can rise above partisanship to get things done. To appear with Mr. Clinton, he had turned down an invitation to speak at Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington, intended as a forum for religious conservatives to get an early look at Republican contenders for the 2016 presidential nominees. Jeb Bush, Paul D. Ryan and Sarah Palin were among the speakers there. The conversation lasted just 40 minutes, until Mr. Clinton declared that someone in the audience was holding up a sign: "Governor must depart for airport." "Just ignore that, Mr. President," Mr. Christie said. No, the president said, "Neither one of us control the Chicago airport yet." If there was meaning in that "yet," it went unexplored.