Christie: Don't count the governors out in N.H.

CONCORD, N.H. - Gov. Christie picked up the endorsement Friday of Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a popular Republican from just south of the state that will host the first presidential primary Tuesday.

The backing from Baker comes as new polls show Christie trailing key rivals in New Hampshire for likely GOP primary voters.

The endorsement "should tell people in New Hampshire two things: First is that governors recognize how important it is to have a governor as the next nominee," Christie said Friday after a town-hall meeting in Stratham. "And two, that we're competing right through to Tuesday."

Christie, whose campaign may rest on how he fares against two other governors in the New Hampshire primary, will hold a rally Saturday with Baker as well as fellow Republican Govs. Larry Hogan of Maryland and Paul LePage of Maine.

LePage sparked controversy last month after referring to drug dealers as "guys with the name D-Money" and "Smoothie" impregnating "young white" girls in his state.

Christie supported all three governors in 2014 while serving as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, a background on which he has sought to capitalize in the presidential race.

"We have the organization of governors across this country, and I believe that when I emerge as the top governor from New Hampshire, that those governors will come in line behind the idea of supporting a governor," Christie said at a news conference Wednesday in Concord. "They know that a first-term United States senator is not qualified and ready or prepared to be president of the United States."

Christie is averaging 5.1 percent support in recent New Hampshire polls compiled by Real Clear Politics, trailing Ohio Gov. John Kasich (11.1 percent) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (9.7 percent). Tuesday's primary is seen as crucial for the three men, who combined won less than 7 percent in the Iowa caucuses Monday.

The week between the caucuses and the New Hampshire primary is "the longest week in American politics," Christie told reporters Friday, after the Stratham town-hall meeting at the Timberland company. "It's like dog years this week."

He dismissed the idea that his "New Jersey style" didn't appeal in other states.

"Then how do you explain Trump?" Christie said. "In terms of things that come out of my mouth, they're a fraction. I never said that I could shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue and wouldn't lose a voter. I never called Mexicans rapists and murderers. I never said, ban all Muslims from the United States.

"This is a guy, who if you believe the polls, he's ahead not only in New Hampshire, but ahead much more nationally," he said. "So I don't think that's it.

"I spent my time going all around the entire country being asked by people to come and raise money for them," Christie said. "They don't invite somebody they don't like."

While he said he didn't think regional differences affected his appeal, Christie said he'd faced skepticism that he was a conservative, based on "some kind of ethnicity thing."

"For some folks, if you're a Northeastern person who seems the least bit ethnic . . . they always think you can't possibly be conservative," he said.

Asked why governors were struggling to gain traction in the race, Christie said it was too early to make that assessment.

"This is based much more on who the candidates are rather than what position they hold," Christie said. "There will be plenty of time for a postmortem after a campaign ends. But we're still in the beginning of it."

mhanna@phillynews.com

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Staff writer Thomas Fitzgerald contributed to this article.