Jeb Bush hits Christie's fiscal record

MEREDITH, N.H. - Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, who once enjoyed a wide lead in New Hampshire, has singled out a rival that his team now sees as an immediate threat: Gov. Christie.

In an exclusive interview with the Washington Post on Wednesday night, Bush conceded that the GOP primary here is now a race for second place behind front-runner Donald Trump.

"Look, Trump's the front-runner and there's a jump ball for second with five candidates and that will be sorted out over the next few weeks," he said.

Asked whom he would consider in that five-way race, Bush said himself, Christie, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Trump leads by double digits in the Granite State, according to recent polls that, on average, put Rubio, Cruz, Christie, Kasich, and Bush behind him.

With just over a month to go, Christie is enjoying a resurgence and a second look among many Republicans after a widely sought endorsement by the New Hampshire Union Leader, the state's largest newspaper.

Answering a question about how he stacks up against Christie and Kasich, Bush honed in on Christie.

"I've got a proven conservative record of reform and we need to reform Washington. If past is prologue, why wouldn't you go with the guy who did the big things?" he said. "It wasn't simple to take on the teachers' union and beat 'em. To create the first and second and third statewide voucher programs in the country or eliminate affirmative action and replace it with a more successful model or cut taxes every year and go from double-A to triple-A bond rating."

New Jersey's credit ratings has been downgraded nine times during Christie's tenure due to shortfalls with the state's pension system.

A super PAC backing Kasich has also started mailing New Hampshire Republicans fliers that raise doubts about Christie's fiscal management.

For his part, Christie said he welcomes the attacks. "I'm just better qualified, I'm better tested, I'm more experienced," he told the Post on Tuesday. "I think the reason they're coming after me now is because I'm doing well. My message is connecting up here in New Hampshire and so, you know, it's good to be attacked. It means I'm in the game."