MILWAUKEE — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal dominated the undercard debate Tuesday as Republican presidential candidates on the ropes tried to fight their way to the prime time stage.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and ex-Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, the last two Republican winners of the Iowa caucuses, got lost in the shuffle as Christie and Jindal mixed it up. The former argued that Republicans should focus on electability and nominate a conservative who knows how to beat the Democrats and collect votes in a blue states. Jindal instigated the exchange when he called Christie a “big government Republican” who spent freely in New Jersey.
“Chris, I’ll give you a ribbon for participation and a juice box,” Jindal said. “If politicians say they’re going to be conservative, they say they’re going to cut spending, and they don’t do it, why should we send them to D.C.?”
“If you go to New Jersey, they’ll call me lots of different things, but liberal’s not one of them,” Christie responded. “What I want to talk about is what’s going to happen to this country if we have another four years of [President] Barack Obama’s policies. And, by the way, it will be even worse, because Hillary Clinton is running so far to the left to try to catch up to her socialist opponent [Vermont Sen.] Bernie Sanders.”
Christie was relegated to the undercard debate after the first three Republican presidential face-offs just as his polling might be showing signs of life. Jindal has been stuck at the happy hour debate from the beginning, and his attacks on Christie and others were not surprising given the campaign’s accelerated phase and dwindling opportunities to stand out.
Team Jindal saw Christie as a big target heading into the fourth undercard debate of the 2016 primary campaign. The Louisiana governor leveled the same attacks as he has in previous debates — and as he does everyday on the stump. But Christie is a major figure in the Republican Party and typically garners news coverage befitting a frontrunner, as opposed to the underdog that he is. Jindal is hoping that some of that attention rubs off on his upstart campaign and leads to more support in the days ahead.
Jindal is pleased with the progress he is making in Iowa, the focal point of his upstart campaign. But time is running short to make a move, and he wasn’t about to let the opportunity of sharing the stage w/ Christie to pass him by. “It’s not about Louisiana versus New Jersey, it’s about where we go as a country,” Jindal told reporters after the debate.
Christie’s strategy was to stay above the fray and not get dragged into the mud by candidates it deems as beneath his stature. That, and an inabilty to completely deflect attacks on his conservatism as opposed to some of the other caniddates, explained his approach. The Christie campaign wasn’t overjoyed w/ the outcome, but argued that they held serve. Unlike Jindal, Christie did not come to the spin room to talk to reporters after the undercard concluded.
“I thought he did great,” Christie campaign strategist Mike DuHaime said.
“I think he definitely had a lot of time, and that was helpful,” DuHaime added. “He was much more in the mix, much more on display, and that was good for him.”
The Republicans next meet for a nationally televised debate on Dec. 15 in Las Vegas.
