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Matthews on Christie: He's the voice Romney wants bellowing forth from Tampa

Let me finish tonight with this.So the word has gone forth that the torch has been passed to the king of the boardwalk, the killer of hecklers, the defender of

Let me finish tonight with this.

So the word has gone forth that the torch has been passed to the king of the boardwalk, the killer of hecklers, the defender of the faith: New Jersey governor Chris Christie.

He's the voice that Mitt Romney wants bellowing forth from Tampa the week before Labor Day. Where once it was the great Jerry Lewis setting the tone for back-to-work week, now it's the Emperor of the Boardwalk himself. 

I think this tells us what Romney's up to: outsource the trash talk, the snarling and smacking of Obama; then put a more pleasant fellow on the ticket. He doesn't want to hang out with Christie; he just wants him out there doing the dirty work. He wants a nicer person like Tim Pawlenty on the ticket with him, hopefully sharing West Wing space someday.   

Clever division of labor. Use the big guy from Jersey to clear the beach of Obama, so that Mitt and Tim can put their beach chairs together for the next four or eight years. Let Chris scream the bad stuff about what's going on; let Tim enjoy the comfort of a good job with what's coming. 

This is the way I see it shaping up: a dirty, snarling attack campaign, with Christie and Sununu and the other raging elephants trampling their way around the circus tent, with Mitt and trustworthy Tim getting the jobs in management.  

It's the old Romney formula: support the enterprise by shipping the dirtier jobs off-shore — in this case to the seashore — while giving comforting futures to the boys in the front office.   

Now that's what I call "equity."