Christie keeps fighting for New Hampshire votes
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Hands shot up when Gov. Christie asked voters who was still unsure whom to support in Tuesday's presidential primary.
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Hands shot up when Gov. Christie asked voters who was still unsure whom to support in Tuesday's presidential primary.
"Keep your ears open and give me a shot," Christie told the crowd Monday in a gymnasium attached to St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral.
And for nearly two hours, he did his best to persuade, fielding questions that involved analyzing the root causes of 9/11, mock-debating a man who didn't agree with his support for enforcing federal marijuana law in Colorado - "Ding," Christie said, marking the end of the voter's 30-second rebuttal - and agreeing to take a question from a man in a cowboy hat opposed to drug prohibition because, Christie said, it was "the final roundup."
The governor, who garnered less than 2 percent of the vote in last week's Iowa caucuses, is averaging just over 5 percent in polls in New Hampshire, putting him sixth in the field.
But he projected optimism at his last town-hall meeting before the primary, telling the crowd he had a flight to South Carolina scheduled for Wednesday morning, and "I'm going to take it."
Though Christie has trailed the field in fund-raising, his backers say he has enough to continue to South Carolina, which holds the next GOP primary Feb. 20.
The governor has tried to seize momentum from the offensive he launched against Florida Sen. Marco Rubio during Saturday's debate, saying the exchange - which spurred Rubio to repeat himself multiple times - "changes the entire race."
But whether he can capitalize on the moment at the polls is unclear. While Christie cast Rubio's stumble as proof the first-term senator is too inexperienced, he isn't the only governor touting his credentials: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are drawing support from a similar pool of voters.
"The odds become very long if Christie doesn't pull off a big surprise tomorrow," said Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire.
During the debate, Christie "had to make something happen, and he did," Scala said. "That doesn't necessarily mean benefits accrue to him."
One of the undecided voters at the Manchester event, Gigi Brienza, said Christie "took a risk" during the debate, and "I feel like he should be rewarded for that."
But Brienza, 48, of Manchester, had come into the meeting leaning toward Bush, who she thought had "very thoughtful" policies on issues like helping veterans start small businesses.
At a campaign event earlier in the day in Hampstead, Christie drew sharp distinctions with his rival governors.
In contrast to governing a Democratic-controlled Legislature in New Jersey, Christie told voters crammed into a coffeehouse, Kasich had an easier task with Republicans in Ohio: "He sends his ideas down the hall, they rubber-stamp them, they send them back, he signs them, and they all have a party, smile, and it's all great."
Of Bush, Christie said the former Florida governor's experience dated to "over a decade ago." Electing him would be like "if Peyton Manning retires and then 10 years from now goes back into the Super Bowl," Christie said.
The New Jersey governor, meanwhile, promised he was ready to fight. To a woman who said she had never been "more nervous about casting a vote" because she wanted Republicans to win the general election, Christie referred to his exchange with Rubio: "Did you watch Saturday night?"
He also drew attention to the scene outside BeanTowne Coffee, where New Jersey workers from the Amalgamated Transit Union were protesting over the state's near-depleted Transportation Trust Fund. Among the signs was a poster with a large doughnut superimposed over a picture of Christie's face and the phrase "Missing Governor."
"I am so glad they sent some of my favorite Democrats up here to give me a hard time," Christie said, as the protesters - apparently listening through a speaker set up outside to serve the overflow crowd - cheered. "It makes me feel right at home, gets me fired up."
Christie had another person on the trail to remind him of New Jersey: Buddy Valastro, star of TLC's The Cake Boss, who accompanied the governor.
Standing at the back of the coffeehouse, Lloyd Webster said he was "pretty much convinced" to vote for Christie after narrowing his choices to the New Jersey governor and Rubio.
Rubio "left himself open to criticism" during the debate, said Webster, 71, of Derry. But it wasn't the exchange so much as hearing Christie in person that pulled him toward the governor.
It's "just the way he talks," Webster said. "He told it very up-front. He didn't try to make it pretty."
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Staff writer Andrew Seidman contributed to this article.