Massachusetts Gov. Baker endorsing Christie in GOP primary

The Christie campaign announced Friday that Baker and Polito will join the Republican presidential candidate at a rally Saturday morning in Bedford, NH.

The political ties between Baker and Christie run deep after the New Jersey governor, who has also had to deal with a legislature controlled by Democrats, came to MA in 2010 to campaign for Baker in his unsuccessful race against incumbent governor Deval Patrick.

One unnamed Baker adviser told the Globe the governor is both “fond of Christie” and is wary of the rise of more conservative Republicans.

Baker says Christie has offered advice since he became MA governor a year ago. “And I just find his temperament and his sense of objective to not be conducive to succeeding as president”, Baker said. According to RealClearPolitics’ average of recent polls, Christie is sixth in New Hampshire with 5.3 percent of the vote.

New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary is Tuesday.

The state Democratic party jumped quickly on the announcement, highlighting in part Christie’s campaign stand that Planned Parenthood should be defunded by the feds.

Asked Friday about Christie’s flagging position in the polls, Baker said, “To make a decision about something like this based on the polls would be to sort of miss the point here”. “I think if you get outside of New Hampshire and MA, nobody’s going to have any idea who Charlie Baker is”. He garnered national attention in the 2014 midterm elections when he defeated the two-term attorney general, Martha Coakley.

Christie attended Baker’s inauguration ceremony in January 2015, adding the star wattage of a future presidential candidate to the governor’s first day in office.

He emphasized that he believes the party’s nominee must have a record of working across the aisle. Others in the state’s GOP establishment have scattered among several candidates.

The endorsement comes after years of support for Baker from his fellow governor. “I’ll be back at my desk”, he said.