combined with ken cuccinelli s loss in governor s race have many republicans questioning whether it s time to limit the influence of the tea party influence of the gop. but republicans that could challenge chris christie did not get that memo. here we go. after christie s win, senator marco rubio was quoted saying, i think we need to under that some of these races don t apply to future races, everyonery race is different. it has a different set of factors. that s not gracious. no. if you win by like 800 points in a state that barack obama won by 800 points, you take a look at that, don t you, nicole? absolutely. you congratulate him and say wow he s a contender. you all said that chris christie wasn t wallowing in it. marco rubio, you would say to him be gracious. it s the day after.
mcauliffe, both were centralists, they could work across the aisle. reporter: not everyone is ready to embrace him as the face of the gop. tea party favorite rand paul seemed to take a swipe at him on spending federal dollars for the superstorm sandy ads. people running for office put their mug all over these ads while in the middle of a political campaign. that s offensive. reporter: as if to get ahead of other possible republican competitors like senator marco rubio, christie made sure to emphasize his victory in rubio s crucial voting bloc. we won the latino vote last night. find another republican in america who has won the latino vote recently. reporter: rubio made clear new jersey is not the nation. we need to understand that some of these races don t apply to future races. every race is different. it has a different set of factors. reporter: a little bit of sniping there. chris christie heads up the governors association, his job
that s what political reporters do, but we need to understand some of these races don t apply to future races. each race has their own factors. i can congratulate them. some of these ads, people running for office put this mug on their ads in the middle of a political campaign. in new jersey 25 million was spent on ads that included somebody running for political office. do you think there might be a conflict of interest there? it cuts to what the republicans problem is going forward, which is the festering civil war between the likes of rubio and ran and chris christie.d and chris christie. he laid his colors out there and said i ll run for the top job. there is no question that christie is doing that, however, this is contrary to what a lot of people in the profession think. i think christi s victory is meaningless in terms of the
viable candidate for presidency? first that s a decision he has to make. he s a governor that s been re-elected in a big state that gets a lot of attention. would he be a tough competitor? yes. and i like him and i have a pretty good relationship with them. i think it s important, i know everyone wants to jump to what it means for the future. but some of these races don t apply to future races. but i con gratd late him on his win. reporter: are you saying that his win in a blue state like new jersey wouldn t translate to more of a red state or more of a swing state? what would translate across the country is a message that goes to people, look, we know you re struggling and trying to get ahead. you re doing everything that s been asked and yet your life doesn t seem to be getting better. the only way we re going to make it better is if we abandon the policies of big government.