Remains to be seen. There is an undeniably startling comparison, however, in that you have an incumbent administration with a seemingly insurmountable lead against his opponent, and whose operatives engage in underhanded, abusive conduct for political motives. There was much more of a buffer zone between the Watergate burglars and Nixon than that between Christie and his bullying aides.

We found out that when this ruse was put into play in September, it generated a great deal of discussion, concern and anger among more than a few officials. The communications were specifically presented to Christie's scheduling sacretary, which greatly broadens the leap in logic one must take to believe that he was "blindsided" last week.