Chris Christie’s team fires back at ‘desperate’ Bobby Jindal
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks during the Republican presidential debate on Tuesday in Milwaukee. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s team had some harsh words for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal after the pair sparred on stage during the first Republican presidential debate here Tuesday night.
Jindal described himself as the only candidate on the stage who had cut government spending in his home state. He specifically criticized the records of Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Michael DuHaime, Christie’s senior strategist, spoke to Yahoo News in the spin room after the debate. He said Christie’s team “anticipated” attacks from a “desperate” Jindal.
“I really wasn’t surprised,” DuHaime explained. “I think Governor Jindal, we anticipated that he was going to be somebody who, given where he is in the campaign, at this moment a certain kind of desperate edge to needing to go out and attack Huckabee and attack Christie, so we weren’t surprised at it really.”
The RealClearPolitics average of national polls currently shows Christie in 10th place in the race for the Republican nomination, with the support of 2.2 percent of GOP voters. Jindal is behind him, at 0.8 percent. Although Christie has struggled to gain traction, a poll released by the Boston public radio station WBUR last week showed his support in New Hampshire, the state where the first primary will be held, has quadrupled since September.
Both Jindal and Christie participated in the first of two Republican debates that were hosted by Fox Business Network and the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday night. It included four candidates at the back of the pack in the Republican presidential primary race. A second debate featured the eight candidates who are leading in the polls.
Christie’s poll numbers previously qualified him for the top-tier debates. Yahoo News asked DuHaime whether he thought Christie’s performance tonight would put him back on the main stage when Republicans debate again in December.
“I’ll let you guys decide that. I feel great. I feel like he did a really great job tonight. I feel like he was strong. He got a lot of time to talk tonight about his vision for the future and why he’s the best person to take on Hillary Clinton,” DuHaime said. “I feel really good about how tonight went. I think time will tell how well it went. … I think he did really well, and that will help him going forward.”
DuHaime was also asked why he was representing Christie in the spin room. Christie did not speak to reporters himself after the debate. DuHaime said Christie “always” avoids the spin room.
“He’s always let his debate performance speak for himself. This is not different,” DuHaime said. “I feel very good. I’m sure he feels very good about it. I thought he did a great job tonight. It was clearly head and shoulders above the other people on that stage, so I feel great about the performance.”
Christie did make a brief appearance in the spin room after the Oct. 28 Republican debate in Colorado. He was on the main stage on that occasion.
DuHaime also told Yahoo News that Christie’s team was not upset by Jindal’s attacks. He alluded to complaints some of the Republican candidates have had about debate moderators and said Christie is “a lot tougher than that.”
“Campaigns are — you know, this is tough. I mean, Governor Christie’s been a governor in the New York media market in a very Democrat state. He’s taken a lot tougher things in his life than a couple shots from Bobby Jindal,” DuHaime said. “I mean, there’s too much complaining going on in this race. There’s too many people who are whining about a lot of different things. If you can’t take a couple shots from either moderators or other people on the stage, you don’t deserve to be president. Governor Christie’s a lot tougher than that.”
