Undercard Debate: Bobby Jindal Attacks GOP Rivals While Chris Christie Aims At

Jindal said Tuesday during the Republican undercard debate in Milwaukee that the most important question facing voters in the upcoming presidential election is whether people are willing to cut the size of the government to grow the economy.

“Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left and trying to catch up with her Socialist opponent Bernie Sanders it’s hard to see her anymore”, said Christie.

Four Republican presidential candidates lagging in national polls squared off in a lively preliminary debate Tuesday night, fighting to move into the top tier of White House GOP hopefuls.

Christie grabbed the spotlight and held it, bypassing opportunities to criticize his Republican rivals to focus his attacks on Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Christie’s camp is calling the debate a win as he got the most airtime out of both Fox Business debates. That was higher than the 1 percent in the IBD poll, and enough to raise the New Jersey governor to an average of 2.5 percent had it replaced the IBD survey.

Clinton is “coming for your wallet, everybody”, Christie told the crowd in a downtown theater.

If Christie was focused on Clinton, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal aimed his sights on Christie. “I’m the only one who cut government spending”.

Christie and Huckabee also spent time attacking the Internal Revenue Service and blaming the federal tax code with weakening manufacturing and the United States generally.

Goldford said he found it interesting that Jindal attacked Christie as a big-government politician, but Christie declined to bite back. Rider University professor Ben Dworkin says it’s because he chose to be the adult in the room. “We need a conservative, not a big-government Republican, in Washington, D.C”.

“Chris, look”, Jindal said in one of the more memorable moments of the debate, “I’ll give you a ribbon for participation and a juice box”.

Mr. Jindal attempted to pick a fight with Mr. Christie, who wouldn’t take the bait.

On taxes, Santorum discussed his flat, 20 percent rate for all businesses and individuals, while Christie said the richest Americans should pay 28 percent and the poorest should pay about 8 percent.

The other candidates on the stage-Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum-barely registered. But Santorum said the GOP should borrow from the other party’s playbook. “Don’t worry about Huckabee and Jindal, worry about her”, Christie insisted. “She believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself”, he said, looking directly into the camera.

The approach couldn’t have been more different from that of an aggressive Bobby Jindal. “Because they’re not willing to back down”. “We’ve had World War II veterans’ children saying they’d never heard the stories of their parents’ heroic sacrifices”, said Jindal.