Christie seeks support, confidence of Iowa’s ‘wine tasters of American politics’

CORALVILLE, Iowa - In the span of about 24 hours, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie debated other 2016 GOP presidential hopefuls in Milwaukee and conducted a daylong series of town hall meetings across Eastern Iowa answering questions and asking for the support of 'the wine tasters of American politics” in the first-in-the-nation caucuses.

Some of the questions weren't friendly and not everyone accepted his answers.

Christie wasn't complaining, however, when he wrapped up a town-hall meeting with about 80 people in the back of the Coralville American Legion Wednesday evening.

Running for president ought to be hard, Christie said, 'Because being president is going to be real hard.”

Nearly six months after formally entering the race for the GOP nomination, the two-term governor said he's met people eager to support him, others who offer principled opposition and still others who think the system is so broken they don't want to get involved.

What amazes Christie is that regardless of where people are on that spectrum, they still believe 'that if we have a president who understands, who cares, who is brave and smart, that he or she can make a difference in every one of those problems.”

The issue thrown at Christie during nearly an hour of questions and answers ranged from abortion to foreign policy, the national debt, climate change and education. Christie warned his audience they wouldn't agree with all of his answers.

'If you're looking for candidate you agree with 100 percent of the time, here's my suggestion: Go home and look in the mirror,” he said.

Voters who demand 100 percent agreement from a candidate ultimately end up with liars - politicians who promise what voters want to hear and hope they forget the promises after the election, Christie warned.

'Let's just be honest with each other,” he said. 'If you and I wind up agreeing on more than we disagree, then maybe you might vote for me. If you don't, that's OK because you have 14 other people to choose from.”

Christie, who is polling at 5 percent in New Hampshire compared to 2.5 percent in Iowa, according to the RealClerarPolitics.com poll average, made a point of the fact that he's spending three days in Iowa this week. So far, he's spent more than twice as much time in New Hampshire as in Iowa.

Spending more time in Iowa is a reflection of the importance Iowa Republicans and the Feb. 1 precinct caucuses.

'You all have outsized role, a totally outsized role in that process,” Christie said. 'You're going to winnow the field. You're going to be the ones who decide who gets to go on and who goes home.”

In addition to caucus support and votes, Christie wants voters support and confidence.

'Your votes get me to the White House,” he said. 'The support and the confidence give me an opportunity to make a difference in the problems we talked about tonight.”