How Chris Christie Got a Direct Line to President Obama

The New Jersey governor, whose “telling it like it is” theme predated Trump’s unexpected rise, has two more opportunities to shine in debates before the February 1 Iowa caucuses and February 9 New Hampshire primary election. “And I think independent observers would suggest – whether it’s education, the commitment to reforming our child-welfare system or the other things that we did that were across the board, our child-support system, our business climate, taking on the plaintiffs’ bar, the teachers union the government unions – I think people would say without a doubt that I have the best record”.

“Christie has a history of firing with a laser scope, not a shotgun, ” said Hale, a Seton Hall University political science professor. He is an interventionist, like his mentor and rival Jeb Bush, calling for bolstered military to protect American interests overseas.

Donald Trump holds a rally in Claremont, NH at 7:00 pm ET…

The narrator reads this tagline: “Chris Christie…high taxes…weak economy…scandal…Not what we need in the White House”.

With Trump and Cruz the clear front-runners, it’s not clear whether Christie will have the staying power he needs. Tell us in the comments or by joining the conversation on our Facebook page.

Hooksett, New Hampshire (CNN)Chris Christie is having his moment.

Adding to all the trouble is the fact that Christie spent 261 days previous year outside of New Jersey; out-of-state security adds up fast when hotel rooms, gas, salaries, and possible overtime costs are accounted for.

He stopped at context clues.

“What do you think?” the interviewer asks.

“If I do well here, I’m going to be the nominee”, Kasich said.

Now’s not the time for Christie to directly engage Trump, said Geoffrey Skelley, associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, produced by the University of Virginia Center for Politics. That second place status is relatively tenuous, however, with Ted Cruz trailing him with an average of 12 percent, and Chris Christie two points behind, averaging 11.3 percent. “And on the latter set of issues he has veered too much to the right of most Garden State voters”. They’re speechmakers; Christie and Trump are talkers.

Meanwhile, even with a second-place finish, Paul would be well-positioned for another good performance in New Hampshire, where his libertarian views are quite common.

“Not somebody who is a first time United States senator, who has never had a tough race in his life”, Christie continued.

It was a reference to the edginess that helped Christie become known nationally, for better or worse, after he took office in New Jersey in 2010.

During Christie’s lengthy remarks, he also called Rubio “young” and “inexperienced”. I’ve been working on the assumption that all of that will change once Rubio inevitably starts rolling out big endorsements, but maybe Team Marco is less confident than I am.

And a super PAC backing Rubio, Conservative Solutions, released an ad Tuesday touting Rubio’s electability that calls him “the one Hillary Clinton doesn’t want to run against”, an attempt to tweak Cruz over concerns about his general election viability due to his hardline conservatism.

On the Senate side, two of the three senators who have endorsed Rubio were also supportive of the bill. Sen.

That follows a Christie-themed mailing earlier this week to New Hampshire voters, paid for by a super PAC for John Kasich. “I wish there were no attacks”. Okay. From the right? “It means I’m in the game”.

Expect more of the same, said Hale of Seton Hall. “He will eventually attack Trump, but not until the field narrows”. And 53% of Clinton’s supporters are “absolutely certain” to be voting for her, versus 44% for Sanders.