Chris Christie reacted with characteristic venom after hearing that some Republicans are blaming him for undermining Mitt Romney’s presidential hopes. The New Jersey governor blasted anonymous Romney aides who have complained that he hasn’t taken any time to campaign with the candidate since Hurricane Sandy struck. Christie denied that he had rejected an invitation to appear with Romney at a Sunday evening rally in Bucks County, Pennsylvania just across the river from his office in Trenton. He told reporters today the report in the Huffington Post that he had turned Romney down was untrue:

I told him: ‘Listen, Mitt, if the storm hits the way they think it’s going to, I’m off the campaign trail at least through Election Day.’” “He said: ‘Chris, do what you have to do. Do your job and don’t worry.’ All this noise is coming from know-nothing, disgruntled Romney staffers who are mad at the fact I said nice things about the president. That’s too bad for them.”

No one should blame Christie for devoting himself to his state in a time of crisis, and Romney’s reaction to this was entirely appropriate. But by responding to an anonymous report in his usual extravagant blowhard style, Christie only gave a little more life to a story that he would have done better to ignore.

This episode may be forgotten in a few minutes as the actual votes start getting counted. But if Christie is looking ahead to 2016, it is a now a given that some Republicans, whether fairly or not, are going to give him some of the blame him for Romney’s loss, if that’s what happens.