Christie Says No to 2012 Bid, but G.O.P. Keeps Calling

So many people want to talk to Gov. Chris Christie about the 2012 presidential campaign that he probably could not drop the subject if he wanted to.

Not that he wants to.

Despite months of insisting that he will not enter the race, the New Jersey governor has become an increasingly busy presence on its fringes. Conservative politicians and talk-show hosts are still clamoring for him to jump in, and he has agreed to meet this month with a group of fund-raisers from Iowa who want to persuade him.

While Republican consultants say he would be a leading contender, and journalists keep asking whether he will run, Mr. Christie keeps finding new and ever more provocative ways to say no. The Republicans who have considered running want his imprimatur, lining up for dinner dates at the governor’s mansion in Princeton.

Candidate or not, Mr. Christie is a force to reckon with in the contest, someone who political analysts say could influence his party’s nomination, or make a splash as a choice for running mate — another prospect he rules out. The governor shows no sign of fading into the background, and by his own admission, he loves the attention.

“I’m a kid from Jersey who has people asking him to run for president,” he said last week in a radio interview, laughing off the idea that he had “become tired and annoyed” by the subject’s coming up time and again. “I’m thrilled by it. I just don’t want to do it.”

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