welcome back to "hardball." despite what some would have had you believe, the christie scandal is not a creation of democrats or the big national press eager to pop the christie balloon. the story has been doggedly pursued by reporters in his own backyard, and those reporters continue to take the lead on this unfolding story. here is how david carr of "the new york times" laid it out today. it started with the publisher of the bergen record, a newspaper in northern new jersey that tipped off the newspaper's editor that getting on to the george washington bridge from ft. lee was taking hours. the editorialist passed it on. he began placing calls to local law enforcement. later a reporter at the record who covers the port dug in and tried to find out what was behind the lane closings. after a number of articles, on december 28th he wrote that e-mails show that officials at