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Christie plans D.C. rollout

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is bringing his blunt talk about fiscal responsibility to Washington this week in a speech sure to stoke speculation about his national prospects – which have intensified in recent weeks as some Republicans openly fret about the strength of their 2012 field.

Like Christie himself, the message he’ll deliver Wednesday at the conservative American Enterprise Institute is unorthodox and straightforward: he accuses both parties, Democrats and Republicans alike, of “timidity” in the face of the coming fiscal calamity.

“It’s hard, but it can be dealt with,” Christie said of his speech, previewed for POLITICO, which will focus on his battles with the state’s teachers unions. “I’m a little mystified as to why they’re not doing it, on either side. Because what we’ve shown in New Jersey is that the public is hungry for this.”

“I don’t think anybody’s ever accused me of being ambiguous. So I think when I get done, they’ll have a good idea of what I’m talking about,” he said.

Christie is candid about his willingness to consider national office in the future but insists he’ll be sitting out 2012, saying he is “challenged and content and excited to be the governor of New Jersey, and I got a lot of work to do here – we are far from being fixed.”

“I’m not running for president,” Christie, 48, said by phone from his desk in Trenton Monday. “And I don’t know anybody who would want somebody like me as their vice president.”

But that hasn’t stopped some Republicans from seeing Christie as the answer for a party that badly wants to beat President Barack Obama two years out. He drew 6 percent of the vote at last weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll – tied for third, even though he’s not running.

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter has emerged as a vocal backer, telling Fox and Friends Monday morning, “I would say he’s the only Republican who could win.”

And it’s not just Coulter. One overriding sentiment at CPAC last week was that there was still a spot in the race for a newcomer. Some have pushed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Others have turned to Christie, a former U.S. attorney who unseated incumbent Jon Corzine in 2009 and who is enjoying a wave of GOP national celebrity.

Earlier in the year Christie turned down an opportunity to offer the Republican response to Obama’s State of the Union speech.

In a season of revolt against canned politics, his unapologetic swagger and decisiveness have registered with voters and activists.

“I am who I am,” he said. “To the extent that people are finding any type of attraction to what I’m doing, it’s mostly because it’s because I’m being straight with them. It’s not a bunch of prepared hooey, read off a teleprompter.”

AEI, which sometimes has to fill speeches with employees and interns, says the response to Christie has been so phenomenal that room reached its capacity of 300 less than a week after his speech was announced. Reporters and others are now being referred to a livestream on the Web.

Yet for all Christie’s demurrals on the presidential race, it’s clear his interests extend beyond Trenton. His staff revealed that he had hosted former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney last month for a large dinner at Drumthwacket, the governor’s mansion – and let it be known that it was Romney who had made the overture.

“Governor Romney asked if he could come see us, and I was more than happy to host him for dinner with some folks in my state who are political friends and allies of mine,” Christie said. “I’d do it with people I feel like I have a relationship with, and I have one with Governor Romney.”

And Christie clearly expects more such auditions.

“If there are other folks who I have developed a relationship with over time who are considering running for president … I’m happy to give them a forum,” he said. “As that happens, I’m not naïve enough to think that it won’t leak to all of you immediately.”

In an exclusive preview of his D.C. address, “It’s Time to Do the Big Things,” the governor reveled in his biggest controversy – his war with Garden State teachers’ unions.

It’s a fight where national Republicans are cheering him on and he knows it.

The speech, he said, is an effort to “let people around the country know about the experience we’re having in New Jersey, … and how I think it’s something that every governor is currently looking at, and that the federal government should be looking at.”

Christie explained his confrontational style, memorialized on various YouTube videos that have drawn hundreds of thousands of views.

“I was brand-new to the schoolyard last January,” he said. “And when I came on, I saw a whole bunch of people, laying on the ground – bloody. And one person standing up – that’s the bully. Some governors before me have decided they wanted to cozy up to the bully and make nice with him and hope that they don’t get punched.

“My attitude is: ‘You punch them, I punch you.’ That’s what I think I’ve been sent here to do, with regard to some of the public-sector unions. I don’t think you can allow public officials to be bullied around. If they want a fight, they’ll get one.”

Christie beat Corzine by less than 4 percent of the vote, but since then has marshaled public opinion to a surprising degree in a state that has gone Democratic in the past five presidential elections. In a Quinnipiac University poll taken early this month, 53 percent of respondents approved of his handling of the state budget, although those polled were evenly split on his handling of education.

The support for his tough medicine was unusually broad: 56 percent favored layoffs for state workers, 65 percent backed furloughs for state workers, 77 percent supported wage freezes for state workers, and 66 percent were for reducing pensions for new state workers.

“Whether that’s members of the state legislature, or people at my town-hall meetings, or folks who interview me on national television, I’m no different,” he said. “Some people are going to like it and some people aren’t, but they’re never gonna have to wonder what I think. They’re gonna know.”

The governor’s three big themes, foreshadowed in his “State of the State” address last month, will be “restoring fiscal sanity,” reforming entitlements and education reform.

Standard & Poor’s lowered New Jersey’s credit rating earlier this month because of what Christie said at the time was a “pension and benefit bomb.” Christie said that for his state, pension and health-benefit reform are the entitlement equivalents of the federal Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

“Nobody’s talking about it, so [Republicans and Democrats] both get incompletes,” Christie said. “Once again, the states are going to have to show leadership. I want to talk to people on a more national level about the fact that this is being done in New Jersey … as a way to show a pathway to it being done in other states and on the national level.”

Christie accused both parties of “timidity” on the big fiscal issues.

The Republican Party, he said, is “on probation” with the American people. “If we do this well, the country will reward us for being men and women of our word,” he said. “And if we don’t, then we’ll be punished they way people who break their word should be.”

“The way to get that message out to a lot of the states is to come to Washington, D.C., because you’ll get national coverage that they’ll read everywhere,” the governor added. “But also, if it leads to spurring courageous conversation in the United States Capitol, then that’ll be just another extra added benefit.”

Christie claims he already has “changed the way government is going to operate in New Jersey.”

“No longer is every program assumed to be funded, [or] that every funded program will get an increase,” he said. “We’ve actually turned that momentum around, not just for one year but now for two years in a row. That, I hope, will be the takeaway [from his budget address later this month]: ‘Wow, this isn’t just a flash in the pan. They’re actually going to continue to do this.”

Christie said his soulmates among governors include New York’s Andrew Cuomo (D), Wisconsin’s Scott Walker (R), Ohio’s John Kasich (R) and Susana Martinez (R), New Mexico’s first female governor.

“We are on the verge of real financial disaster,” Christie said. “It’s not papering it over anymore with help from Washington, D.C. It’s about us putting our own affairs in order, and Washington, D.C., giving us the flexibility [on Medicare and other issues] to do that.”

Asked about the GOP’s 2012 presidential field, Christie replied: “I, obviously, am very close to Governor [Haley] Barbour [of Mississippi], and we worked together closely at the [Republican Governors Association]. I’m also very friendly with [former Minnesota] Governor [Tim] Pawlenty, and have great respect for him. I have respect for [Indiana] Governor [Mitch] Daniels, and I’ve spent time with him.”

How about Sarah Palin? “I’ve never spent any time with her,” he said, referring to the Alaska governor who stepped down from office 4 months prior to his election.

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'Z'-names people react faster than 'A'-names: study

WASHINGTON (AFP) – People whose last name starts with a letter near the end of the alphabet react more quickly to opportunities to buy something than those whose surname starts with an early-alphabet letter, according to a recent study of consumer behavior.

But the trait is apparent only in relation to childhood last names, not for adult surnames, leading the authors of the study to hypothesize that it could be a reaction to the ordered world of childhood, in which Zs tend to go last and sit in the back row at school while As get first choice and front-row seats.

Researchers from Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business and Massey Graduate School of Business in Nashville put limited-time or -quantity offers to several groups of graduate students, and found that the later in the alphabet the person's last name, the quicker they were to buy.

"People with childhood last names late in the alphabet queue up faster to get something they value," Kurt Carlson of the McDonough School of Business, one of the authors of the study, told AFP.

Carlson and co-author Jacqueline Conard believe that's because late-alphabet children "develop response tendencies to manage the inequities that arise from the use of last names to order their environment," they say in the study published in the January edition of the Journal of Consumer Research.

"Late alphabet consumers want to make sure they?re the first in line. Children late in the alphabet will move quickly when last name isn?t a factor," such as when they are grown-up, says the study.

That rapid response means that late alphabet consumers "many times end up getting things that other people don't get when there are limited supplies," Carlson said.

On the other side of the coin, people with last names early in the alphabet "will be so accustomed to being first that individual opportunities to make a purchase won?t matter very much; they will ?buy late,?" the two researchers say.

In the queues that form outside large department stores before big sales or outside cinemas before the latest Harry Potter film, "you can expect that there would be fewer people early in the alphabet and more people later in the alphabet," said Carlson.

The last name effect could be useful for marketers and other people who are selling something, says the study.

Marketers can easily obtain lists of names for mailshots, or target everyone on Facebook whose name starts with a letter at the tail-end of the alphabet to better sell a limited-time offer or product.

The end of the alphabet was considered any letter from R to Z.

People with late-alphabet names responded to offers put to them in the study -- involving everything from wine to money to free tickets to a basketball game or a cheap backpack -- about one hour faster than those with names near the front of the alphabet.

Galifianakis to join Ryan Reynolds in "R.I.P.D."

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Zach Galifianakis is finally ready to join the dead.

The comedian has been circling "R.I.P.D.," a supernatural action comedy about a ghost-busting police force, since the fall.

This week, the actor took a step toward the light, entering serious talks to star opposite Ryan Reynolds in Universal's adaptation of the Dark Horse comic.

"R.I.P.D." follows a murdered cop (Reynolds) who is recruited to work in the Rest in Peace Department, a police force comprised of ghosts who battle spirits unready to depart this world. Robert Schwentke ("Red") will direct.

If a deal is made, Galifianakis would play Reynolds' partner, a wise-cracking officer who's been hunting spirits since the 1800s. Galifianakis next stars in "The Hangover Part 2," which opens May 26.

Stafford scores 2 in Sabres' 6-2 win over Leafs

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Drew Stafford scored twice and added an assist, Thomas Vanek had a goal and two assists, and Ryan Miller finished with 23 saves to lift the Buffalo Sabres to a 6-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

Jason Pominville, Paul Gaustad and Tim Connolly also scored for the Sabres, who bounced back from a one-goal loss in Pittsburgh on Friday to improve to 10-4-1 in their past 15 games.

Miller made his 28th consecutive start for Buffalo, which won its seventh straight at home against Toronto.

Nikolai Kulemin and Francois Beauchemin scored, and rookie James Reimer allowed five goals on 30 shots before being yanked after two periods for the Maple Leafs, who had their two-game winning streak snapped.

Reimer was coming off his first career NHL shutout on Thursday against Carolina. He was relieved by Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who gave up a goal on 13 shots over the final 20 minutes.

Toronto lost for the fifth consecutive time on the road after winning a season-high five in a row away from home.

Down 5-1 after two periods, the Maple Leafs cut it to 5-2 on Beauchemin's goal with 7:21 left.

Vanek capped the scoring with his team-leading 19th of the season with 3:17 to go.

Leading by a pair of goals after the first period, Buffalo pushed its lead to 3-0 on Gaustad's seventh of the season when he snapped in a shot from the right circle at 4:19 of the second.

Connolly then made it 4-0 with a power-play goal just under 3 minutes later before Kulemin scored Toronto's first goal of the game with a short-handed tally at 8:50 of the second.

Stafford scored his second of the game, and 17th of the season, with 5:38 left in the second with a wrist shot from the high slot to make it 5-1.

The Sabres struck first just 3:31 into the game when Pominville netted his 12th of the season. After getting a backhand pass from Vanek in the slot, Pominville wristed a shot into the top-right corner to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead.

Stafford made it 2-0 on the power play just under 6 minutes in. He one-timed Jordan Leopold's cross-ice pass from the left circle.

Notes: The Sabres improved to 29-9-1 against Toronto since 2005-06. ... The most recent Maple Leafs win in Buffalo was Dec. 12, 2008. ... The Sabres have killed off 37 straight penalties against Toronto dating back to March 2009. ... Miller's career high for consecutive starts is 34, set in the 2007-08 season. ... Buffalo outshot Toronto by an 11-1 margin over the first 10 minutes of the first period, but were outshot 9-1 over the final 10 minutes of the frame.

P&G's popular campaign kicks off new ad

CINCINNATI – Last year's advertising sensation will soon make its 2011 debut, as Old Spice's suave, shirtless star returns in round three of his commercials for the Procter & Gamble Co. brand.

In an indicator of the campaign's popularity, there first is a 30-second "coming attractions"-type trailer going online Wednesday which takes you beyond former football player Isaiah Mustafa's muscular torso — to his "striking brown eyes," if he does say so himself.

In another effort to keep the buzz going for the YouTube hit, a yet-to-be-named "superfan" will get to debut the commercial on his or her own social network page or feed, sometime before Super Bowl Sunday.

The first of three commercials in the new promotion will start running on television Feb. 7, the day after the Super Bowl.

"We felt like we could build some excitement behind this latest launch, letting people know we're bringing Isaiah back, and continue to reward our fans across social media," said James Moorhead, brand manager for Old Spice, promoting a new collection of body washes, sprays and deodorants as a "scent vacation" that evokes exotic locales such as Komodo and Fiji (think "grass skirt.").

The first commercial a year ago with Mustafa, towel-clad in a shower and urging women to "Look at your man, now back at me," has generated tens of millions of online views and a new catch-phrase: "I'm on a horse." The second campaign last summer included 186 related videos in which Mustafa responded personally to digital queries from users including Ellen DeGeneres and Alyssa Milano.

For ABC's "Good Morning America," he suggested that President Barack Obama could improve standing with female voters by wearing only a towel and beginning his State of Union speeches with "Hello, Ladies!"

Obama didn't heed that advice Tuesday night. No matter, the "responses" campaign in its first week scored 21 million views, accounting for eight of the most popular 11 YouTube videos at the time.

The campaign and its ad agency, Portland, Ore.-based Wieden+Kennedy, won a shelf full of top advertising awards, while P&G said sales jumped by double digits for the seven-decade-old brand.

Can the new ad measure up to that success?

"Inherently, there's pressure when something has a lot of success and then you're trying to follow it up," said Wieden's Eric Kallman, who created the ad with Craig Allen.