Christie's withdrawal is good news for Haley

On Tuesday, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called the governor of New Hampshire a "liar" for suggesting that Christie was considering dropping out of the Republican presidential primary. Instead, Christie insisted that he would remain in the race as long as he saw a viable path to the nomination.

On Wednesday, Christie dropped out of the race.

In all likelihood, though, Christie's abrupt change of heart didn't come about because he suddenly saw no path to victory. From the moment he entered the race, it was clear that he was too unpopular — his average favorable/unfavorable rating among Republicans is currently* 22 percent to 57 percent — to seriously contend for the Republican nomination, and he never exceeded 4 percent in 538's national polling average. Instead, Christie probably withdrew to avoid playing spoiler to former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in New Hampshire.