Christie-Rubio ‘Glitch’ Debate Moment Goes Viral

In the process, most of the candidates generally avoided attacks on Trump, who continues to hold big leads in those same New Hampshire polls.

Cruz bypassed an early chance to tussle with Trump, refusing to repeat his criticism from earlier this week that he did not have the temperament for the White House.

The incident was telling for New Hampshire voters sympathetic to Rubio’s appeal as a fresh, young candidate, but skeptical about how the untested senator would handle the pressure of increased expectations.

While the two Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, are locked in an ongoing debate on who is more “progressive”, the Republican candidates are fighting for the mantle of the “best conservative” in the race.

New Hampshire has prided themselves as being the first state in the country to have their primary, kicking off the election season. Hard-fought, expensive and far-ranging, the campaign has become a fight for the future of the Republican Party, though the direction it will ultimately take remains deeply uncertain. Just half of likely Republican voters are completely decided on a candidate, according to the poll.

The crowd that packed a school town hall Sunday in this seaside town buzzed with energy before New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie arrived.

Another 18 percent of likely voters said it’s somewhat or very likely they could support Christie, while 62 percent said they would not vote for him. “You just simply haven’t”.

Christie and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who are vying with Rubio for support from establishment Republicans in Tuesday’s New Hampshire nominating contest, compared Rubio’s experience in the Senate to that of President Barack Obama, who also was a first-term senator when he was elected.

Bukaty/AP Chris Christie has come out swinging, but he faces an uphill battle to even finish third in New Hampshire.

One of them was Katherine Lynch, 60, who made her decision between Rubio and Christie after the debate.

“That’s what Washington, D.C., does”, he said. Christie was having none of it, pointing out that memorizing a 25-second speech doesn’t cut it for a governor, or a President.

Rubio starts off with this one-liner: “Let’s dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing”.

As Christie was arguing that Rubio gives canned responses to any question he’s asked, the U.S. Senator did exactly that, giving the same answer four times in the course of the debate.

Trump was back on the debate stage after skipping the last contest before the Iowa caucuses. “Choke!” blared the front page of The Boston Herald, which is widely read in southern New Hampshire. He sought to refocus on the core messages of his campaign, including blocking Muslims from coming to the USA and deporting all people in the country illegally, all while maintaining he has the temperament to serve as president.