After Christie Speech, the Answer Is Still 'No' - Speech at Reagan Library focused on bipartisan compromise, not conservative red meat.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie delivers remarks at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on Tuesday.

From The Wall Street Journal:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie delivered a muscular plea for national unity in a speech Tuesday at the Ronald Reagan presidential library. Although he and those close to him have said repeatedly he won't run for president, the California appearance nonetheless stoked speculation he would enter the Republican nomination contest.

Asked after his speech whether he would run for president, Mr. Christie referred to answers he has given in the past: He's not running.

Mr. Christie's brother, Todd Christie, told the Newark Star-Ledger on Tuesday that the first-term governor wouldn't run, saying, "If he's lying to me, I'll be as stunned as I've ever been in my life." That came a day after former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean told the conservative National Review that odds in favor of a Christie run were increasing.

In answers to audience questions, Mr. Christie also took a swipe at Mr. Perry, criticizing his support of legislation to allow illegal immigrant children to get discounted, in-state tuition to colleges and universities. He also decried Mr. Perry's assertion last week at a presidential debate that opposing such legislation was heartless. "That is not a heartless position," he said. "That is a common-sense position."

While cast partly as a foreign-policy address, the speech dwelled on the conduct of the inhabitant of the Oval Office. It sought to contrast Mr. Christie's leadership style to President Barack Obama's, which he described as passive and rudderless.

Mr. Christie also decried "political conduct" that has diminished the nation's standing in the world and left its problems languishing, and he faulted "a president who once talked about the courage of his convictions, but still has yet to find the courage to lead."

But his speech focused on bipartisan compromise, not conservative red meat.

Instead of preaching stripped-down government, as many Republican politicians do, he said an assertive nation "takes resources—resources for defense, for intelligence, for homeland security, for diplomacy."