Ethics troubles complicated New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's chances of becoming Mitt Romney's running mate last year, The New York Times reports is in an upcoming chronicle of the 2012 presidential campaign. The Times reported that too many questions remained after Christie completed the vetting process and Romney had lingering concerns. The details come four days before New Jersey voters head to the polls to determine if Christie gets a second term. During a campaign stop Friday, he dismissed the report and told CNN that the authors are "just trying to sell books." Christie's challenges were first reported Thursday night by Times national political correspondent Johnathan Martin and based on details of the book, "Double Down: Game Change 2012."
@highlight
Concerns included investigation of Christie's travel expenditures while U.S. attorney.
@highlight
Revelation included in new book by reporters on presidential campaign, "Double Down"
@highlight
Christie faces New Jersey voters next week in gubernatorial reelection bid
@highlight
Book also says Obama campaign conducted focus groups, polling about replacing Biden with Clinton
A 2010 report by the department's Inspector General concluded @placeholder â€” among five top prosecutors investigated -- was the "the U.S. attorney who most often exceeded the government (travel expense) rate without adequate justification."
I think the President picked @placeholder as his running mate for the right reason, which is, if necessary, the vice president could be president.
The Times obtained a copy of the book and reported that the President's top aides conducted "extensive group-sessions and polling in late 2011" to gauge whether dumping @placeholder could help bolster Obama's waning re-election hopes.