This is a repeat headline. We first used it on this site in December, 2011 when Nate Silver, covering the Republican race for its party’s nomination, wrote, “Yes, Virginia, there are still moderate Republicans out there. Not as many as there used to be, but enough that they will constitute perhaps one-third of the Republican primary electorate.”  

It was a reference to 8 year old Virginia O’Hanlon’s letter to the editor of New York’s Sun newspaper asking if there is a Santa Claus. Virginia’s friends had been telling her there was no Santa Claus. Her father said, “If you see it in the Sun, it’s true, Virginia.” According to Newseum.com, the Sun’s editor, Francis Pharcellus Church, wrote back to Virginia, telling her her friends were “wrong and that they had been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age.” 

Fast track to Nov. 5, 2013 and the state of Virginia. The skeptics in the Republican Party were wrong. They allowed themselves to be railroaded by a small faction of naysayers who ignored what the people of that state wanted.  Job creation coupled with increasing tolerance on social issues. And as a result, the Tea Party candidate, Ken Cucinelli, got run over by a train filled with voters who are more moderate than their experts and consultants would have led all of us to believe.  It was like 2012 all over again. 

But, a different story is unfolding in New Jersey. Where that blustery and blunt but ever-pragmatic, finger wagging, unlikely Pol, Republican Gov. Christie, just got re-elected in a state that has more Democrats than Republicans. A state where money is now pouring in to thwart his agenda. He got re-elected because he likes people and can work across the aisle. But the real test is still in front of him, a test that will determine whether Christie has what it takes to pin down Washington’s spending problem. If he does, he could be the party’s next Presidential candidate. Actually, if he can hold together his bi-partisan support, especially as he tries to reform the state’s pension program, he will likely be the country’s next Republican President.