no, i think he emerges as an enlarged figure, a bigger presence. governor christie is completely right in terms of the mainstream electoral, but the republican primary electoral is very different. christie s numbers in the polls are not very healthy. rand paul is very strong when it comes to that prime year electoral rat. the facts here don t matter. kentucky gets back about $1.50 for every dollar it sends to washington. rand paul comes back and says, but we have military bases. has the guy never heard of ft. dix? new jersey has military bases. it does. but none of this is relevant to the ideologues. the great irony is the guys from the red states receive all these benefits, mostly financed by the blue states. that s the very spending they re trying to cut.