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Too Big To WinFat politics and the race for governor of New Jersey.

By Daniel EngberPosted Monday, Oct. 19, 2009, at 6:01 PM ET

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm slightly overweight," said Chris Christie on Friday, during his second gubernatorial debate with incumbent Jon Corzine. "Apparently this has become a great case for discussion in the state. I don't know what that has to do with being the governor of New Jersey."

With the election just three weeks away, Christie's physique may be costing him votes. A recent attack ad from the Corzine campaign shows the Republican candidate clambering out of a sport utility vehicle in jiggly slow motion while a voice-over says he "threw his weight around" as U.S. attorney. Meanwhile, the governor has played up his own image as a health nut, embarking on a public 5K run on Tuesday with Newark mayor Cory Booker. Asked the other day whether his opponent was fat, Corzine replied, "Am I bald?"

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How will the Garden State respond to this all-out food fight? According to Public Policy Polling, 20 percent of undecided voters say they're less likely to pull the lever for a plus-sized candidate—and that's just the people who were willing to share their bias over the phone. (A New York Times survey conducted last week found similar numbers.) Christie may not be the first candidate to be punished for his flab: Just one-quarter of the nation's governors are visibly plump, says Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com, compared with two-thirds of the populace.

This size bias may ultimately play out along party lines. The last presidential election revealed a startling overlap between statewide obesity figures and support for the GOP. Despite losing in a landslide, John McCain carried all nine of the fattest states in the union and 16 of the top 20. (Obama prevailed in 17 of the 20 thinnest states, including New Jersey.) In the race for governor of a very blue state, Christie's girth marks him as an outsider—a member of the chunky-monkey Fox News demographic, the kind of guy who rides around in an SUV and eats Double Down sandwiches. If Christie stands in for America's boorish consumer culture, then Corzine—slender, bearded, and bespectacled—represents the cosmopolitan elite.

There are two fat Americas, though. Excess weight, as liberals know well, is not just a sign of overconsumption but a marker of low social class—or even a symptom of oppression. Across the country, rates of poverty and obesity are closely linked, and there's reason to think that being poor actually makes you fat. Those of modest means inhabit a treacherous food landscape of subsidized calories and super-sized portions; if they're inclined to overeat, it's because corporate food scientists have ensnared them with "hyperpalatable" snacks crammed with fat, sugar, and salt. So when Christie—who presents himself as a "Jersey guy" with a Jersey gut—jokes that he just can't pass up a doughnut, why shouldn't we believe him? It's not as though he hasn't tried to lose weight through exercise and dieting. "It's just part of who I am, unfortunately," he explained to the Times.

Playing the victim isn't likely to boost Christie's poll numbers, though. Even if he could convince New Jersey Democrats that's he's just a working-class schlub and a slave to shopping-mall food courts, he'd just be trading scorn for pity. As a fat man, he'd get none of the deference afforded to women, homosexuals, blacks, Latinos, or any other marginalized group with its own identity politics. Never mind all the evidence of body-size discrimination in employment, education, and health care. Weight bias may be just as prevalent as racial bias, yet we're reluctant to assign any political status to obesity. Corzine can say with a wink that Christie "threw his weight around" as U.S. attorney. Who would dare to suggest that New York governor David Paterson had "turned a blind eye to corruption"?

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Daniel Engber is a Slate senior editor with a body mass index of 25.4. He can be reached at .

Illustration by Mark Alan Stamaty.

COMMENTS

Don't worry – nobody is going to advocate for fat folks – they are everybody's favorite bunch to hate. Especially the PC crowd – here's someone they can hate – it's like sugar free hate! – indulge all you want.

Who cares if they are human beings? Who cares if they may be people that care about you or have value that transcends their bigness - they have committed the crime of not taking care of their little personal temples. How dare they be a part of society?

When the Control Monger crowd is done with fat people they'll move on to the next faulty group:

How about people that don't apply themselves and fail to get a higher education? That's a personal choice that costs society.

How about parents of imperfect children? – They cost us and need to be reined in.

How about people that used to smoke, but quit? Smoking has long-term effects that will end up costing us anyway – it's nice you quit but you already screwed us with your past personal choice.

How about dog owners that spread parasites in parks. You may pick up, but there's always some pin worms get left behind. And dogs are an unnatural strain on the ecosystem that consume resources. Don't dog owners deserve a little hate too?

How about people that don't display a nice attitude – they affect society's psyche AND mean people have been shown to develop certain health issues that costs us all. I think we need special nice police to zap, with a cattle prod, anyone that brings negativity to our day or is unpleasant to anyone (except fat people, of course).

I could go on – there are so many people, who make bad choices, at whom we can click our tongues.

Human failures provide the Perfect-People with such a fertile hunting ground in their quest to make us all the same.

Viva La Same! Keep on Hate'n folks.

-- Hooblublu
(To reply, click here)

Actually, "everybody" hates very thin people as well. And I have even heard feminists (Naomi Wolf, Gloria Steinem) defend overweight women by disparaging thin women as not being sufficiently womanly or as being unattractive. Sometimes it seems that everyone needs a group to hate.

Another group that is almost universally despised: smokers. Hatred of smokers, who are seen as weak-willed and lower-class, is analogous to that of fat people - but much more openly virulent.

"Who cares if they are human beings? Who cares if they may be people that care about you or have value that transcends their bigness - they have committed the crime of not taking care of their little personal temples. How dare they be a part of society?"

Well put! Some people cherish every opportunity to be simultaneously hateful and self-righteous.

-- Cicera
(To reply, click here)

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