However despite the fact in that Christie & the three others are struggling within the polls, the New Jersey governor particularly made a few extent of training his criticism on the candidate leading the Democratic field.
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“Hillary Clinton’s coming for your wallet, everybody”, Christie warned.
During the debate, Huckabee was targeted by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Rick Santorum – all of whom received less than 3% in national polls – Tuesday in Milwaukee. “And what we need to do is get the government the hell out of the way and let the American people win once again”, Mr. Christie said.
Santorum said he visits a manufacturing company once a week and finds open jobs with no one to fill them.
He was asked what concrete steps he would take to create jobs.
Mike Huckabee promised to establish a “fair tax” that would “eliminate taxes on productivity”.
The governor also said the tax code, “rigged for the rich”, needed to be reformed, saying if president he would get to “fire a whole bunch of IRS agents”.
Fox Business, a network many viewers might not have in their cable lineups, will also live stream the debates. For the undercard, FBN anchors Sandra Smith and Trish Regan and WSJ Washington Bureau Chief Gerald Seib.
Dianne Bystrom, the director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University, said the four candidates had nearly equal debating skills.
The main debate featuring the top eight candidates begins at 9 p.m. ET.
Early on in the debate, there was a crucial moment where the absurdity of Christie’s position became evident. But as Politico points out, Christie wanted no part of this fight.
The moderators stayed on message for much of the first half of the back-and-forth, keeping the questions focused on the economy.
“We’ve got four senators running, they’ve never cut anything”, Jindal said.
“Christie has the traditionally recognized best debating skills – he looks directly at the camera; he is usually succinct, he uses the phrase ‘When I am your president;’ and he attacked Hillary Clinton, as the presumed Democratic nominee, a lot”, Bystrom observed.
Bobby Jindal ripped his Republican presidential rivals at Tuesday night’s GOP undercard debate, saying that no one but him is committed to cutting government spending. “I’ve done it twice as Governor of New Jersey, and Hillary Clinton doesn’t want one minute on that stage with me next September when I’m debating her, and prosecuting her for her vision for America”, he argued.
Jindal challenged Christie’s record on spending, criticized his expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and noted that New Jersey’s credit has been downgraded nine times under Christie’s watch.
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Sen. Lindsey Graham of SC and former NY Gov. George Pataki did not qualify for this debate.
