Inquiries into whether lane closings at a busy bridge were intended as political punishment by a re-elected governor normally would be just a state or local issue. But national attention focuses on New Jersey investigations because its governor, Chris Christie, is seen as a leading Republican presidential candidate in 2016.

General Assembly and Senate members in Trenton, his state’s capital, soon begin hearings into whether Christie’s top staff members and political appointees purposely created traffic snarls on New Jersey’s side of the George Washington Bridge for four days. About 20 people associated with his administration have been summoned to testify. Preliminary federal investigations also are under way.

Some journalists and critics of the governor say the aides may have wanted to embarrass the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., because he didn’t back Christie for re-election last fall. Two other mayors claim they were targeted for different political reprisals for declining to endorse him. Several of the governor's appointees have resigned or been fired, and the governor insists he didn’t call for or know about the unneeded bridge lane shutdowns.

Some Republican Party leaders now seem to back away from the idea of a presidential bid by Christie in two years. “I think anything about a 2016 deal, at this point, is on the back burner,” the finance chairman of the Republican National Committee is quoted as saying Sunday in The New York Times.

Christie says: "I knew nothing about this. . . . I’m sick over this. . . . I am stunned by the abject stupidity that was shown." – Jan. 9 news conference

N.J. Democrat says: "I do think laws have been broken. Public resources -- the bridge, police officers -- all were used for a political purpose, for some type of retribution, and that violates the law." -- John Wisniewski, deputy speaker of the State Assembly

Journalist says: "To believe Christie you must believe he saw no evil, heard no evil, spoke no evil for the entire five months of this matter." – Chris Matthews, MSNBC host