Todd Christie

The 2009 gubernatorial campaign in underway in St. Paul, where two of the four potential candidates for Governor have a visible presence among Republican Party leaders attending the convention.  Biotech millionaire John Crowley sponsored a booze cruise down the Mississippi River last night – the first opportunity for many New Jersey Republicans to see the guy who teased them with a potential U.S. Senate candidate last spring.   And while U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie is not permitted to attend political events, his brother, Wall Street millionaire Todd Christie, has been working the delegation seeming support for 2009.  Former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan is not attending the convention (his most likely support won’t come from establishment Republicans who traveled to St. Paul), and there has not yet been a spotting of the fourth candidate in that race, Assemblyman Rick Merkt.

MINNEAPOLIS - The elevator doors in the Hilton opened and a man stepped off and headed for the bar.

"It’s Chris Christie’s brother," said a veteran newspaperman, staring at the familiar facial features of the newcomer in a scene that all evening took in a steady flow of New Jersey Republicans.

The white-haired, Chris-Christie lookalike made his way over to GOP operative Bill Palatucci, who was seated at the bar, and they began talking. He took an extended handshake from a stranger and acknowledged, "Yes, "I’m Chris Christie’s brother."

The word out the there among GOP sources is that Todd Christie is here to keep the idea firmly fixed in people’s heads that his brother, the U.S. attorney in New Jersey, is going to be running for governor next year.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie can’t attend the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis next month – his job as a federal prosecutor precludes his attendance at political events – so he’s sending his brother to represent his interests as a potential candidate for the 2009 Republican nomination for Governor.  Todd Christie, the former Spear, Leeds & Kellogg CEO, will head a group of Christie supporters at the convention.