GOP elite still not sold on Romney

First, it was Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana, then Governor Rick Perry of Texas, and then Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, who announced yesterday that he would not run.

The search for a more perfect candidate underscores how Romney, for all his strengths, has yet to win over part of the GOP elite, even in the Northeast financial world where he has deep connections.

While Romney’s differences with the Tea Party are well known, the Christie clamor showed how some Republican elders want a candidate with economic credentials who can tap into the emotions of the electorate in a way the cool, buttoned-down Romney cannot.

With Christie, they thought they had found their man.

Big, bellicose, and seemingly unvarnished, he is the anti-Romney, famous for bellowing, “Get the hell off the beach!’’ when Hurricane Irene was bearing down on the Jersey shore, and for declaring that he was going to “open a beer, order a pizza, and watch the Mets’’ when Democrats threatened to shut down state government.

His clashes with unions, budget cutting, and the widely circulated YouTube videos of his confrontations with critics have made him a “folk hero,’’ in the words of one conservative activist. Romney, by contrast, “is seen as more cautious and safer,’’ said Mark McKinnon, a Republican strategist who has worked for George W. Bush and John McCain and was among those encouraging Christie to run.

“What people are really looking for today is authenticity, and they like bold and brash, especially on the Republican side right now,’’ McKinnon said. “That’s why there was an initial attraction to Rick Perry. And Chris Christie is bold and brash.’’

The courtship of Christie was all the more striking because he had been adamant that he was not going to run, even joking that he might have to commit suicide to stop all the White House chatter. Yet the calls for him to enter the race intensified after Perry, initially seen as the strongest challenger to Romney, faltered in debates and fell in the polls.