STRATHAM, N.H. — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie warned Granite Staters that they could risk losing their first-in-the-nation primary status after 2016 by mirroring Iowa’s results.
The governor campaigned across a snow-swept New Hampshire touting the fact that he had stumped in the Granite State more than Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.
“Are you all really going to let Iowa decide what you’re going to do?” Christie asked in Dover. “You know all of a sudden we see polls that show Senator Cruz and Senator Rubio up, the two guys who have spent the least amount of time in New Hampshire by far. … If you reward people who don’t spend time here, no one’s going to spend any time here and the first-in-the-nation primary could be at risk.”
Christie also charged that Cruz and Rubio avoided answering questions about entitlements in recent presidential debates because they were afraid of voters, but Christie said he trusted them.
“I’ll govern like a one-termer,” Christie said. “I don’t worry about being re-elected. I win once, I’m not worried about the second one, just get me through the first four years because there’ll be enough problems both around the world and at home.”
In Stratham, Christie told reporters how he was enduring “the longest week in American politics” between the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, when so many undecideds are making up their minds. Despite attacking Cruz, Rubio, and Trump in his speeches, he insisted to reporters that he wasn’t seeking to strike a contrast with any one candidate.
“In a big field like this, you can’t just pick one person out,” Christie told reporters. “You got to be able to be running against everybody and be running for yourself.”
New Hampshire will vote on Tuesday.
