Chris Christie/Susana Martinez: Is This Your 2016 Republican Ticket?
The governors of New Mexico and New Jersey are becoming fast friends. Now, maybe it seems strange that the governor of New Jersey, leading his little-known opponent by an enormous margin, would bring in a faraway officeholder with much less political star power to help him close out his campaign. There's an immediate political reason why it makes sense plus a couple of speculative ones—and they all have to do with 2016.
First, the immediate one: Christie spent the final weeks of the race trying to run up his margin of victory in order to reinforce his case for a 2016 presidential run. Martinez's job was to show up in heavily Hispanic areas like Union City and help turn out the Latino vote. It worked—even as Hispanics turn against the Republican Party nationwide, Christie beat Democrat Barbara Buono 51-45 in the demographic, according to exit polls.
But Christie's embrace of Martinez makes sense in the longer run too. As Brett LoGiurato points out, the two have a lot in common, setting aside the 2,000 miles between Trenton and Santa Fe: They're young (for politicians), moderate, blue-state Republicans who have worked with Democratic legislators on some issues (while clashing on others). They're both former prosecutors, too. Whether that makes Martinez good vice-presidential material is a somewhat different question. She was mentioned as a contender for the No. 2 slot on Mitt Romney's ticket last year, and as a Hispanic woman she'd be a boost to a GOP that doesn't want to be seen as the party of old white men. In any case, the New Mexico press hasn't failed to notice Martinez's rising star. In fact, the Democrats with whom the governor has supposedly had such a good working relationship unloaded to the Santa Fe New Mexican in a piece Sunday. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/11/chris-christie-susana-martinez-is-this-your-2016-republican-ticket/281360/
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with a life story to match 
