Chris Christie launches political action committee

NEWARK, N.J. – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has taken his firmest step yet toward running for president, launching an organization that allows him to raise money for a potential 2016 campaign.

Opening the political action committee allows Christie to begin to hire staffers, build the foundations of a campaign operation and travel across the country as he weighs a final decision on a run. He’s not expected to announce a final decision until spring.

The organization, called Leadership Matters for America, was widely expected and comes not long after former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush announced in December a similar organization. Bush’s move kicked off an aggressive race to lock down establishment donors and may have drawn 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney into the race.

Christie was named the new group’s honorary chairman. A mission statement on the organization’s website echoes themes that Christie has focused on in recent speeches, including remarks on Saturday in Iowa to conservative activists.

“America has been a nation that has always controlled events and yet today events control us. Why? Because leadership matters,” the mission statement reads.

Asked what the launch said about his presidential aspirations at a storm briefing in Newark Monday, Christie appeared to distance himself from the effort.

“It says that there are a group of people who want to be supportive of me continuing to look at the problems in the country. And so I’m happy that they want to do that, I’m honored that they’ve asked me to be the honorary chair of it and it’ll proceed as it proceeds and we’ll see. But nothing more than that,” he said, referring another question directly to the committee.