Yesterday’s election results were ideal for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s presidential ambitions. He won re-election by an enormous 60.5 percent to 38 percent margin.

In a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by over 700,000, Mr. Christie won decisively, making impressive inroads among younger voters, blacks, Hispanics and women – groups that Republicans nationally have struggled to attract.

The governor prevailed despite holding positions contrary to those of many New Jersey voters on several issues, including same-sex marriage, abortion rights and the minimum wage, and despite an economic recovery that has trailed the rest of the country.

Meanwhile, hard-right Republican Ken Cuccinelli lost the Virginia governor’s race to a very unappealing Democrat, Terry McAuliffe.  

Mainstream Republicans and pundits will draw the obvious conclusion: to have a shot at winning the presidency in 2016, the GOP needs someone who doesn’t put social issues front and center, someone who can win in a blue state. Christie will lead the Republican Governors Association next year, giving him more access to big donors across the country. He’s already got a fan club among prominent Iowans on the GOP’s business wing.

My hunch is that despite yesterday’s elections, the GOP base will still demand someone more conservative than Christie in the 2016 presidential primaries. If he does become the nominee, I wouldn’t jump to the conclusion that he could win electoral votes in blue states. His opponent in the governor’s race was third-tier. At least two exit polls taken yesterday indicated he would lose his own state to Hillary Clinton in a presidential contest. He didn’t have any coat-tails, as New Jersey Democrats held all their state Senate seats.

What do you think, Bleeding Heartland readers? UPDATE: Added comments from Bob Vander Plaats below. SECOND UPDATE: Added comments from other social conservatives below.

THURSDAY UPDATE: Added comments from Representative Steve King. He and Christie go way back.  

Alexander Jaffe contacted Bob Vander Plaats for her story in The Hill:

His campaign even drew praise from a frequent critic – Iowa conservative leader Bob Vander Plaats, who has railed against Christie for not fighting a court decision that legalized gay marriage in New Jersey.

“I think people like his boldness, being up-front and confronting issues – in particular that of the unions and education in the state of New Jersey, and for that we applaud him,” he said.

But Vander Plaats warned that making the electability argument could backfire.

“It’s not an asset for him. I think Christie’s going to have to pivot away from a Mitt-Romney, governor-of-a-blue-state type argument because I don’t think Republicans are ready to double down on a losing strategy,” he said.

Steve Deace was quick to discount Christie’s victory:

All you need to know about Christie 2016: Dude wins by 20 points and has no coat-tails in his own state. That can’t be your standard bearer.

Deace also commented:

Chris Christie 2016 (as a GOPer) would lose [worse] than Mitt Romney 2012, and I’ll take all bets to the contrary and laugh all the way to bank.

Moreover,

Maybe the reason being “pro-life” didn’t hurt Chris Christie in blue NY is because everyone there knows he’s not really pro-life. Just sayin

Conservative blogger Shane Vander Hart told the Philadelphia Daily News,

“I’m not really all that impressed,” said Shane Vander Hart, editor of Caffeinated Thoughts, a conservative Christian blog in Iowa. “It sounded like he was going to work hard to defend marriage, and he gave it up. He’ll get a fair hearing in Iowa, but I think with his record, he’s made it difficult for himself if he plans to run for president.”

UPDATE: Though Senator Chuck Grassley does not plan to endorse a presidential candidate before the 2016 Iowa caucuses, his comments during a conference call with Iowa reporters make clear that he believes Republicans need to broaden their base of support.

He was encouraged by the success of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was re-elected Tuesday. His support from African Americans and Hispanics shows that Republicans can win their backing if they reach out, Grassley said during a conference call with reporters.

“When Republicans are a minority party, you should make every effort you can to appeal to every group you can” without compromising principles, Grassley said. “If you believe in the Republican Party, you got to believe in it enough you want to see your people in office so they can carry out what you believe in.”

Although it’s about two years too early to know who will do well in the 2016 caucuses, Grassley said Christie’s re-election “gives him a big boost.”

How much of a boost is not certain, Grassley added.

“You get out there at the grassroots and try to sell your platform to the people who will vote in the caucuses,” he said, “but you have to be cognizant of the fact that winning the caucuses isn’t going to get you into the White House. You have to appeal to other people.”

THURSDAY UPDATE: Representative Steve King (IA-04) spoke to Newsmax on November 7 about Christie’s prospects.

“I like Chris Christie,” King tells Newsmax. “He is a friend, and if it takes a different style for each governor in each state, that’s part of the laboratory experiment that we have.

“Chris Christie is a strong leader who leads without hesitation. He doesn’t check the political winds or check the polls before he makes a decision. He makes bold, strong, executive decisions.

“And what it takes to be elected in New Jersey, especially by large numbers, which we anticipate, is different than Virginia. It’s different than Iowa, it’s different than it might be in any of the very conservative states.” […]

“He has a lot of personal magnetism. The activists in the Republican Caucus are, generally, more conservative than at least Chris Christie is now considered to be. On the other hand, let’s see what might happen. People are attracted to the dynamism of Chris Christie.”

Asked if he would support Christie if he got the nomination, King responds: “Well, of course. If he won the nomination I’d be enthusiastically in support of Chris Christie, and I’m looking forward to it. If he’s looking to run for president, I’d like to see him in Iowa, and I expect that will be the case.”

During a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing in June 2009, King helped defend Christie (then a former U.S. attorney and a candidate for governor of New Jersey) against tough questioning from Democrats about the practice of deferred prosecution agreements. In July 2011, Christie made time during a brief Iowa visit to headline a big fundraiser for King’s re-election campaign.

Craig Robinson hit on most of Christie’s key vulnerabilities in a Republican primary contest: he has signed some gun control bills (while vetoing others); he supports “DREAM Act” type legislation for New Jersey; he withdrew his hopeless appeal to the New Jersey Supreme Court over same-sex marriage.