Christie to Iowa conservative summit: I share your values
DES MOINES, Iowa - New Jersey Gov. Christie told an audience of more than 1,000 Iowa conservative activists at a conference here Saturday that he shares the same political values, deriding the "conventional wisdom" that says he's too moderate for the state that will cast the first votes in the 2016 Republican presidential race in a little more than a year.
DES MOINES, Iowa - New Jersey Gov. Christie told an audience of more than 1,000 Iowa conservative activists at a conference here Saturday that he shares the same political values, deriding the "conventional wisdom" that says he's too moderate for the state that will cast the first votes in the 2016 Republican presidential race in a little more than a year.
"Let me ask you this, if I was too blunt, too direct, too loud, and too New Jersey for Iowa, then why do you people keep inviting me back?" Christie said, noting that he's traveled to the state 11 times in the past five years campaigning for fellow Republicans.
"If the values I'm fighting for every day in New Jersey and all across this country are not consistent with your values, then why would I keep coming back?" he said. "I wouldn't. I do because our values are consistent and we're fighting together to make this a better country."
He cited his two wins in the heavily Democratic state of New Jersey as "living proof" that Republicans do not have to abandon a "belief in the sanctity of human life" in order to win in blue states.
Christie's appearance at the Iowa Freedom Summit offered a chance to try to gain purchase with an influential crowd that has been skeptical of his moderate reputation.
He has been upstaged in recent weeks by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, who also are exploring campaigns and competing with Christie to be the champion of the party's establishment, pragmatic wing. But Bush and Romney declined invitations to the summit.
Attendees heard more than nine hours of speeches, one after another, from Christie and seven other potential candidates: former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Pennsylvania's former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, neurosurgeon and pundit Ben Carson, and former Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive Carly Fiorina.
They also heard from Sarah Palin, Donald Trump and other conservative luminaries.
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