Declaring a financial emergency is certainly an interesting gambit as it would at the very least sustain popular and media interest in NJ's structural issues. However, I wonder about the risk of potentially appearing overly alarmist down the line as the economy rebounds.

I suppose if Christie feels he needs the additional leverage that such as announcement might be worth looking into. But it would have to be sooner rather later, as he will want to be in position to wind it up with some tangible progress before such strong terminology loses its credibility or relevance towards the back end of 2010.