Whether New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie decides to run for president or not, the field of GOP candidates is already huge -- there will be at least 10 Republicans participating in the first debate scheduled for later this summer -- but Christie doesn't have a problem with it, in fact he says it's a great thing for the party.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, leaving meetings at the Capitol in Washington Nov. 17. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, leaving meetings at the Capitol in Washington Nov. 17. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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"I was being pressured by a lot of parties to get in the race, because they said there's not enough good people in the race, there's not enough good candidates, we don't like the field and all the rest, you're not hearing that now," Christie said Thursday night on Townsquare Media's "Ask The Governor" show on NJ 101.5.

Christie said print reporters need something to write about.

"So now it's not that there aren't enough good candidates like there were four years ago, now there's too many good candidates and that's a bad thing. In my opinion there are more good candidates now than four years ago."

He said even with so many candidates, the race is wide open.

"There is no front-runner and that's another reason why a lot of people are getting in, right? Because if there's no front-runner a lot of people will say, well why not me," Christie said.

Christie also said one reason there are so many candidates is because Jeb Bush's strategy failed.

"I mean Jeb's strategy as it appears to me at least was to get in in December of 2014 and to intimidate people out of the race, and it was the Bush name and he was going to dominate, well that hasn't happened," Christie said.

He said the bottom line here is "you'll have lots of candidates, that's great, they'll be a winnowing process probably done by the debates and other things between now and when the caucuses and primaries begin, and then once people start voting it's going to winnow it really quickly."

He also said if he does decide to enter the race, he'll be in it to win it.

"Nobody else who's considering running came out and said anything substantive until I started to, and they still haven't caught up, and so if I decide to run I can guarantee you they won't catch up," he said. "That's the way we've governed in New Jersey, we've governed on bringing forth big ideas, on big issues and not ducking anything."

Christie added "the only reason that you would do this, put yourself through it, put your family through it, is if you really want to be president of the United States, and believe that you can be. If I run it would be because I want to be president and think there's a pathway for me to win."

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