Christie stands out in underdog debate with focus on Clinton

“The fact is that if you listen to Hillary Clinton, she has made it very clear, she believes that she can make decisions for you better than you can make them for yourself”, he said. He even reached back to his time as USA attorney of New Jersey, when he was a feared prosecutor, choosing to speak less about his troubled tenure as governor.

Christie called out Clinton by name just minutes into the event Tuesday evening, criticizing the tax code’s impact on middle-class Americans who can barely pay bills for essentials. “You expanded Medicaid”, Jindal said. “He got a lot of time to talk tonight about his vision for the future and why he’s the best person to take on Hillary Clinton”, DuHaime said. He also took aim at Christie’s record in New Jersey and Huckabee’s in Arkansas. SC Sen. Lindsey Graham and former NY Gov. George Pataki didn’t make the cut.

Christie was also hawkish – vowing to fly Air Force One over disputed, manmade islands constructed by China. Words such as “polished”, “on message” and “disciplined” were bandied about, with no mention of the merit, or lack thereof, of what he said, or criticism of his failure to respond to a legitimate attack on his economic record in New Jersey by Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.

“I’ll give you a ribbon for participation and a juice box”, Jindal told Christie, claiming he held a more Republican-friendly record as the head of his state.

“Hillary Clinton’s coming for your wallet”, he said.

The setback came just as Christie’s languishing campaign had begun to pick up momentum: rising in the polls in the critical early primary state of New Hampshire and capturing the attention of millions of viewers who watched a video of the governor speaking passionately about the scourge of drug addiction.

Christie did make a brief appearance in the spin room following the October 28 Republican debate in Colorado. “Nothing is free”, Christie said. After three debates where he had at least the chance to go head-to-head with powerhouses like Donald Trump, Ben Carson, and Jeb Bush, Christie faced the indignity of being relegated to the undercard debate, the sad kiddie table of GOP politics.

As strong as he was, he didn’t say anything that’s being played again and again today, and nothing on the main stage worked to his benefit.

The struggling candidate said 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.

“If there was ever a candidate who was a fighter and could find a way to bounce back after being demoted to the secondary debate forum”, he said, “it’s Chris Christie”.

Christie wouldn’t engage in a fight, instead praising Jindal as a “wonderful governor” who’s provided “outstanding leadership for that state”.

“We need somebody who knows how to beat Democrats”, he said.