The Chris Christie press conference open thread (UPDATED)

I’m buried under right now and won’t be around to discuss it, but wanted to start an open thread for comments from people on the press conference coming up at 1 pm from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, where he is expected to announce whether or not he’ll run for President. He’s said no numerous times, as documented by Politico here, but speculation has increased over the last couple of weeks and it appears he’s holding this conference to confirm/deny the rumors once and for all.

For what it’s worth, a “close source” has told Fox News that Christie will announce that he will not run but, needless to say, the man himself is the one who needs to make it official one way or the other.

As they say, stay tuned …

Update – 4:53pm: Christie made it officially official earlier today: He ain’t runnin‘:

He’s not running, and he says he means it this time.

Proclaiming “Now is not the time,” Gov. Chris Christie announced at a jammed Statehouse news conference today that he would not seek the Republican nomination for president in 2012.

“New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me,” Christie, 49, teased at the hour-long press conference.

He spoke seriously at first, reading from prepared remarks about how he realized that he wasn’t ready to walk away from the state after only 20 months in office.

“I will not abandon my commitment to New Jersey,” he said. “I will fix a broken New Jersey. I’m proud of the work we’ve done, but I know I’m not nearly done.”

Bad news for NJ unions – good news for fed up NJ taxpayers.