Jonathan Tobin: Chris Christie shouldn’t be the Romney campaign's scapegoat

Our take: In the aftermath of Mitt Romney's defeat last Tuesday, some in his campaign are blaming New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for tilting the scales against Romney. But although any losing campaign needs scapegoats, in this column for Commentary Magazine, Jonathan Tobin argues that it should not be Christie.

"Republicans are still licking their wounds today, but from the sound of it, some in the Romney campaign aren't letting go of their vendetta with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie," Tobin wrote. "While (a) Washington Post story centered on Mitt Romney's efforts to thank and console his supporters and made clear just how decent a guy he is, it also gave a platform for some of his staffers and leading fundraisers to vent their anger at Christie and his role in puffing up President Obama's handling of Hurricane Sandy.

"Any losing campaign needs scapegoats, and it's clear that some in the Romney campaign are anxious to divert the focus away from their own failures. The hurricane, and Christie's embrace of the president, was a setback. Yet a dispassionate look at the returns and the turnout figures shows that even if the weather had stayed nice on the East Coast in the week before the election, Romney would have still lost. To say that Christie lost the election for the GOP is bunk. But even though the attacks on Christie are off base and ought to stop, the controversy still tells us something about the problem with the governor and why those assuming he will succeed where Romney failed are probably wrong."

Read more about Chris Christie on Commentary Magazine.