Michael Brendan Doughterty adds perspective to today's speculation that Chris Christie turned down an offer to be Romney's vice presidential nominee.

It is a little more complicated than that. Essentially, Romney’s people made it clear that the price of joining the ticket was resigning the top office in the Garden State. If Christie failed to do that, campaign finance rules would have restricted the money that Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, and Citibank could give to the ticket.

So if Christie resigns and the ticket loses, suddenly one of the most popular Republican governors is completely off-stage. It makes perfect sense that Christie would not fool around like this, but this story could pick up a little juice heading into Christie’s keynote speech.