Michael Smerconish

I can easily see Chris Christie as the 2016 Republican nominee. Here's how I get there:

Rick Santorum. Marco Rubio. Paul Ryan. John Thune. Maybe Sarah Palin. They're the "usual suspects" for 2016 should Mitt Romney lose to President Obama, which current polls suggest will be the case. There's lots of time on the clock, and anything can happen, but assuming that's the way the current presidential race ends, the seeds are already being sown for yet another battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party.

Pending the outcome of some voice analysis, there is arguably enough evidence in the 911 tapes to warrant the arrest of George Zimmerman in connection with the Feb. 26 shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The voice testing is needed to determine if Zimmerman uttered a racial slur while in pursuit of Martin, and which of the two can be heard crying out for help during their altercation in Sanford, Fla.

Here are seven observations about Zimmerman's 911 call to police, and one point about the neighbors' calls:

When authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann published "Game Change" in 2010, they proved that, despite an unprecedented level of coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign, there was much of the story remaining to be told.

If one ambition for your children is to see them join the 1 percent, you might want to re-evaluate their career paths.

Start voting.

That's my wish for the Congress when it comes to solutions regarding our nearly $15 trillion debt.

Three major bipartisan efforts in Washington offered long-term solutions to our astronomical indebtedness, but none resulted in up-or-down votes in Congress that would have provided a measure of accountability for the folks at home.

At least six months.

That's the minimum amount of time that Pennsylvania State University officials had to ready their public response before everything hit the fan in the Jerry Sandusky case. While the debate continues as to whom within the Penn State community was on notice of Sandusky's alleged sexual abuse of children over the years, it is undeniable that, since the spring, the university was on notice of a potentially earth-shattering investigation. Still, the ineptitude that appears to have marked the oversight and management of Sandusky while a coach and in his retirement similarly prevailed when it came to communications.

PHILADELPHIA -- In California last Tuesday, Maureen Faulkner's telephone began ringing at 6:30 a.m. When she looked down and saw the instant onslaught of calls from the 215 and 610 area codes, she knew they would bring bad news. After 30 years, she's grown accustomed to getting bad news by phone.

Hugh Burns, a good friend and tireless advocate from the appellate division of the District Attorney's Office, was the one to finally tell her that the U.S. Supreme Court had cleared the way for the man who killed Police Officer Daniel Faulkner to receive a new sentencing trial. Prosecutors can take on another sentencing hearing in the hopes of again winning a death sentence against Mumia Abu-Jamal, or close the case and allow him to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.