If the trips to New Hampshire and leaked announcement invitations weren't big enough clues, Chris Christie is in for 2016. 
 
 Like several other campaigns this cycle, Christie's team went for a digital-first approach ahead of a formal announcement: The New Jersey governor launched a campaign website Saturday, just three days before he's expected to announce his White House bid from the gym of the Livingston high school where he graduated. 
 
 He signaled the site's launch in a series of tweets Saturday morning. 
 
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 The simply designed ChrisChristie.com is emblazoned with his signature "Telling It Like It Is" slogan, has areas to sign up for the campaign and donate, and includes links to social media. (There's no cheeky 404 page just yet.) 
 
 Christie has been teasing a presidential run for months, making trips to Iowa and holding multiple town halls in New Hampshire. Just two days ago, he said on a New Jersey radio program that "there's been absolutely no final decision made by me." 
 
 Christie has some hurdles to climb: In his home state, his approval rating is at an all-time low of 30 percent. And as the 14th Republican to jump into the race, several of his fellow candidates are months of campaigning ahead of him. ||||| Newsmax: Christie’s thinking of getting in; Update: Christie advisor denies 
 
 posted at 7:00 pm on September 23, 2011 by Allahpundit 
 
 I lost patience with the Christie speculation weeks ago but I’m going to make an exception for this for three very good reasons. One: It’s late Friday afternoon and I need some easy traffic bait. Mission accomplished. Two: Perry reeked last night. A month ago, it seemed entirely possible that he’d stomp Romney in the debates and have the nomination locked up by early fall. As it is, Romney’s at 44.9 on InTrade right now while Perry’s wheezing along at 27. Plenty of room for an even alpha-er alpha male (or female) to jump in and start stomping. Three: Newsmax is a player in right-wing media and might have an inside track here. And they’re not the only ones. Perennial Christie booster Bill Kristol told a CPAC audience this afternoon in Florida, “I know Chris Christie is thinking about it,” and earlier today at the Heritage Foundation Mitch Daniels called Christie “the best example that I can think of” when asked who fits the bill for bold conservative leadership that the country needs. My sense is that these guys are pushing because they have reason to believe that Christie’s still ever so slightly open to running. Verrrrry slightly. But slightly. 
 
 Anyway. As disappointment with Perry mounts, so does the pining for ChristieRyanDanielsRubio: 
 
 Newsmax has learned that the effort to draft Christie culminated in a hush-hush powwow held in the past week with Christie and several notable Republican billionaires. A source familiar with the meeting suggested that Christie seemed inclined to enter the race but said he needed more time. Christie promised to make a final decision “within two weeks,” the source said… Senior aides to Christie have been quietly urging his supporters not to commit to Perry, indicating Christie was still mulling a bid and would make a final decision after New Jersey’s legislative races are completed in November. 
 
 That last bit suggests either that the story’s wrong or that Christie’s a doofus since the deadline to get on the ballot in Florida is October 31. Anyway: Explain to me again why he’d supposedly be such a gangbusters candidate in the primary. He is, to be sure, a supremely gifted messenger on entitlements and public-employee unions, and he’s already accomplished something significant vis-a-vis the latter. Beyond that, what’s the argument for his candidacy? He’s been governor for just two and a half years, he believes in global warming, he’s questionable on guns, he seems to support comprehensive immigration reform, he backed Castle over O’Donnell (RINO!), etc. That’s not to say he can’t win — if we were willing to nominate McCain, we could nominate Christie — but I’m not sure why anyone thinks he’d necessarily settle far north of, say, 25 percent. He’d be dynamite at the debates, but the debates don’t matter much except to hardcore political junkies like you and me. Why risk running now and flaming out instead of staying put as governor, building a record, and then steamrolling into the 2016 primaries when he wouldn’t have to face a Democratic incumbent in the general? 
 
 Update: And here’s the obligatory official denial.
– Despite the many, many, many times he has said he's not running, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie spent the weekend considering whether he should. He discussed the logistics of a late entrance to the race with his aides as well as his family, sources tell the Wall Street Journal, and he is expected to make an announcement within days. Filing deadlines for New Hampshire, Florida, and South Carolina all loom less than a month away, and Christie would have just three months to launch his campaign, since Florida's primary is now set for Jan. 31 and other primaries could also be pushed to early January—or even late this year. Because of the tight timeline, sources say Christie's aides have become more daunted in recent days. "The afterglow of Nancy Reagan's flattery" at an event last week "has been replaced with the reality of building a state-by-state organization and the abdication of his day job to do this," says one operative. And unlike Bill Clinton, who launched his campaign at a similarly late date but who had already put out feelers and formed an exploratory committee, Christie has apparently not reached out to Republican leaders in the key early states. Says one prominent New Hampshire GOP strategist, "All that I can deduce is he's not running."