Analysis: Decision Time Approaching For Christie

By Larry Kane

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - This has been a busy year for the governor of New Jersey, but there may be some tension-filled times ahead.

This is an important time for Governor Chris Christie -- working on the storm damage crisis, but also in need of a major decision. Although his ratings are high, Christie must decide soon whether to seek re-election next year (still somewhat risky in a blue state) or pass it up and concentrate on a presidential run in 2016.

Will he follow Mitt Romney's path? Romney served one term in Democratic Massachusetts to set his eyes on the White House. Also at the decision point: Newark's Democratic Mayor Corey Booker, and other Democrats like Majority Leader Lou Greenwald of Cherry Hill.

If Christie opts out of a second term, there will be a scramble on for the Democratic nomination, and on the GOP side. Our sources say Booker might want to run for Senate in 2014, if Frank Lautenberg retires.

But the big decision is Christie's. If he runs and wins, he would seek the Presidency while in his third year of a second term or earlier.