Chris Christie could be single-handedly responsible for the political downfall of Marco Rubio.  The Times revealed that he basically has no staff outside Iowa and New Hampshire.  He is banking on big poll numbers in New Hampshire to jump-start his campaign.  But while a candidate can expect a boost from a good showing in New Hampshire, he still needs a state-by-state organization in place in order to take advantage of it.  If Chris Christie expects to do well in New Hampshire and then suddenly build up in other states, it simply isn't going to happen.  There's no historical precedent for it.

Christie has almost no campaign infrastructure beyond the first-in-the-nation primary state.

Most of the campaign's time and resources have been devoted to New Hampshire, with Iowa a distant second.

In both Iowa and New Hampshire, he's got a handful of staffers in each state. But in South Carolina, Christie has just one operative on the ground – whom the campaign declines to name. He currently has no full-time paid staffers in states beyond South Carolina.

Without any organization to plug into, Christie runs the risk of not being able to capitalize on any momentum gained from a strong New Hampshire performance.

"I certainly agree with making New Hampshire the priority. It appears to be working to some extent," said Mike Dennehy, who ran Sen. John McCain's campaign efforts in New Hampshire. "However, if you have next to nothing in the following primary state then any strong showing will be as useful as it is for Jon Huntsman in 2012. Which is basically worthless."

And yet every point that Christie goes up in N.H. is one point that could have gone to fellow moderate Marco Rubio.  Christie is at 10% now in N.H., partially because of his endorsement by the Manchester Union-Leader.  His strong debate performance may increase that.  But even if Christie comes in second or third in N.H., he does not have the infrastructure to win.

Meanwhile, Marco Rubio desperately needs to win New Hampshire, but the only way to do that is get all the moderate votes, including the votes going to Christie.  That's why Christie may be the undoing of Rubio.

I want to salute Chris Christie for his fine efforts in kneecapping Marco Rubio.  Christie knows he can't win, but he totally doesn't care that he's taking down Rubio in the process.  Good work, Chris!

This article was written by Ed Straker, senior writer of NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.