that chairman. everything chris christie did in texas today was shrouded in secrecy, closed to the press, and apparently the same will be true next week when christie plans a fundraising trip in chicago. according to the new york times, illinois local republicans said they remained in the dark about the event s location, while state republican officials have been asked not to talk about mr. christie s trip. now, what every big and successful political fundraising event needs is a political superstar. someone everyone is excited about seeing, someone who, when he or she walks into the room, everyone else there believes they are in the presence of a future president of theite. united states. that s what the republican
it s got to be stopped and i know better than most. and that s it, the south carolina republican forum hosted by senator jim demint. we want to welcome our viewers. i wolf blitzer in the situation room. donna brazill is with us. let s get immediate reaction to what we heard from the five republican candidates over the past two hours. donna, let me start with you. you re a good democrat. you heard from the five republicans. they re pretty much on most of the issues on the same page. a page being very different than the page that the president of the united states is on. south carolina will hold the first primary in the deep south next february. it s a very important state for the republicans. what you saw today is michelle bachmann, mitt romney, newt gingrich, ron paul, of course, and her main cain present the ideas to jim demint. he s a heavyweight, he s a tea party favorite, and what they were running today for was not president of theite, but president of the tea part
christie s trip. now, what every big and successful political fundraising event needs is a political superstar. someone everyone is excited about seeing, someone who, when he or she walks into the room, everyone else there believes they are in the presence of a future president of theite. united states. that s what the republican governor s association was bargaining for when they elected chris christie chairman. they wanted someone who all of the republican gubernatorial candidates in the country would want to have their picture tans wi taken with. they wanted someone who would convince campaign investors to pour even more money into republican gubernatorial campaigns. and what chris christie wanted was media coverage, and lots of it, of his political rock star fundraising tours of the united states, like the one in texas today. the one in illinois next week.