It looks like the media hype bubble about Chris Christie's candidacy is finally popping again. As The Wall Street Journal reported last night, the New Jersey governor had apparently told prominent California donors at a fundraiser at Meg Whitman's home in Silicon Valley last week that he wasn't going to be running. The people he told this include, naturally, the former California gubernatorial candidate and now new Hewlett-Packard CEO:

One assurance took the form of a pledge Mr. Christie made to Meg Whitman, the newly appointed Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive, said two people familiar with the matter. As a condition of Ms. Whitman's hosting a high-priced fund-raiser for him, Mr. Christie said he wouldn't enter the Republican presidential contest, these people said.

So there you have it? Well, there's this: "Mr. Christie agreed to those terms earlier in September, the people with knowledge of the situation said." And the fact that the fundraiser was last Wednesday, which was a lifetime ago in Christie presidential speculation. But still, if you have your ear to the ground on media rumblings about a potential presidential bid for the Republican savior (?), then things don't seem to be pointing to a run this second. It looks like officials in early primary states haven't noticed any evidence either.

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Erik Hayden