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Ross Douthat Again Calls for Christie to Run This weekend's news sets up a showdown between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry for the Republican nomination at at time when President Obama is weak, writes Ross Douthat in The New York Times. "Six months ago, it still seemed as if Republican primary voters might be choosing a sacrificial lamb to run against Barack Obama. Now it looks as if they might be choosing the next president," Douthat writes. Romney has been campaigning, not taking strong positions, for too many years, and this lack of conviction will hurt him as president. Perry has strong convictions and personal narrative but he lacks the uniting spirit that most successful candidates have. That, too, would hurt him in a divided Washington if he were elected. Douthat says that with New Jersey governor Chris Christie, Republicans can do better than the current front runners. Christie has downsides: he's already said he won't run, he would be abandoning his New Jersey governorship, he is too moderate for the GOP base, and he is overweight. However, "serving as the budget-cutting Republican governor of a Democratic state is a far, far better preparation for what awaits the next president than either Perry’s small-government idyll or Romney’s permanent campaign," Douthat says. Christie has had a successful record there. "Six months ago, the best argument for a Christie campaign was that the Republican Party needed him. That wasn’t nearly enough to justify the risk. But if the country needs him? Then it might be worth considering."
The Chicago Tribune on Irritating Office Workers "Office politics can be deadly. Now there are numbers to prove it," declares the Chicago Tribune editorial board. The board points to a Tel Aviv University study that tracked 820 people for 20 years and found that those with lower peer support on the job were more likely to die. "Surprisingly, having a jerk for a boss doesn't seem to have an effect on longevity. It's the clown who wants to be your boss that you need to watch out for," they write. "Countless studies have shown that a toxic work environment zaps productivity, drives away talent, increases turnover and absenteeism, inhibits creativity and problem-solving, and destroys team cohesion." The board points to self-help books and seminars that help workers rant about their annoying co-workers and potentially find solutions. "Alternately, you could visit annoyingcoworker.com and let 'er rip in an anonymous email, or even send one of the pre-written screeds helpfully provided on the site, though this wouldn't be a particularly collegial gesture on your part. Remember, co-workers can kill. It's safer for everyone if we all play nice."