I like the tone of your advice. I think this is very important.

Our model should be how Reagan acted and spoke. Christie must not repeat Obamas mistake of being aloof. He has to be the forceful voice of each proposal. I know this is easy to say for a professor who spends most of his time seated in comfortable room, but I agree with everyone who thinks our time is limited. You used a word "magnanimously". This is key. We can't come across as the root canal folks.

I think we should be clear about what we think about the teachers. We need to forget the talk radio hatred of teachers. I know that we often separate the unions and the teachers but the tone is still quite hateful. This is a shame. According to an article in the union magazine they think that about 40 percent of their membership is conservative. We can win some these folks over if we would just stop yelling at them. We can score points by taking on a common sort of corruption in New Jersey: Teachers are rarely addressed as professionals by the administration. For example: Are you aware of the practice of having principals and higher administrators changing grades/changing who doesn't get into the honor society? It won't cost a dime to have the Governor champion treating teachers as professionals.

The point is that if we cant to stay on top we need to be about something more than taxes.

George