Chris Christie scored a technical knockout in his brief putdown contest with Rand Paul.

For my money, the two Republicans offered a sneak peek into what may lie ahead for the 2016 Republican presidential primary battle.

Christie is the governor of New Jersey; Paul is the junior senator from Kentucky.

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/314911-paul-cries-uncle-offers-christie-beer

Paul cried “Uncle!” recently after Christie fired back at Paul, who had criticized Christie because he was insufficiently conservative on fiscal matters. Paul jabbed at Christie for insisting that Congress should have acted with more dispatch in sending money to New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy battered the Garden State.

Christie’s retort was classic, noting that Kentucky gets back more per capita than it sends the federal government, while New Jersey receives a fraction of every dollar it sends to the nation’s capital.

I’m guessing that Christie, a member of the “Establishment Wing” of the party, and Paul, a champion of the tea party wing, will make a fine mano a mano tandem if they both seek their party’s presidential nomination three years.

My money, though, is on Christie, the man with the keen intellect and sharper tongue.