By Marc Santora

New York Times

In a political season that has seemed to feature a fresh outrage every day, the way Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey eats his M&M’s would not really seem to rank highly.

But after a photograph circulated of Christie pouring a bag of the candies into an empty M&M’s box at an NCAA men’s basketball tournament game in Philadelphia, Twitter went all atwitter.

Some applauded.

“I have a great deal of respect for what Christie did with those M&M’s,” wrote Bob. “Easier to pour M&M’s directly into your mouth from a box. Power move.”

Some were mean.

“Chris Christie seems like the kind of person who needs to pour M&M’s into a BIGGER bag of M&M’s,” wrote Amy Sorlie.

Some were quizzical.

“What if Christie has a series of incrementally larger M&M bags at home?” wondered Gourmet Spud.

And many, for some reason, were outraged.

“Didn’t think my life was going that great, but at least I’m not Chris Christie pouring M&M’s from a small bag into a bigger M&M bag,” wrote Mike Mulraney.

On Thursday, Christie addressed the bag-to-box question.

Appearing on the sports radio show “Boomer and Carton,” he said he could not fathom why his candy-eating habits had received such scrutiny.

“Why would you go bag to box?” asked the host. “Just eat ‘em out of the bag!”

“You know why?” Christie answered. “Because it’s easier to hold the box than to hold the bag.”

But the host pressed on, saying the governor’s approach was “an interesting maneuver.”

“You get the box, you open the box, there’s a bag inside the box,” Christie explained. “Why they do it that way I have no idea, but you open up the bag, you pour the bag into the box so it’s easier to hold.”

The next question from the host was logical, if not more wisely directed at the company that manufactures M&M’s, Mars Chocolate.

Why don’t they just sell the candy in the box? Isn’t the bag superfluous?

“Listen, I run New Jersey, not M&M-Mars. I have no idea,” Christie said.

Mars, as the host noted, is based in Mount Olive, N.J.

“It’s a wonderful corporate citizen,” the governor said.

“Shut ’em down!” the host joked.

Not likely. As the photo made clear, Christie is a fan of M&M’s, whether in a bag or a box.