Candidate Christie’s in New Hampshire, working a six-day schedule for hearts, minds and political endorsements ahead of the nation’s first primary less than three weeks away. NJTV News Correspondent David Cruz is in the Granite State. He spoke with Anchor Mary Alice Williams.
Williams: How was he received?
Cruz: Hey, Mary Alice. Good evening everyone. Well, the governor spoke to the New Hampshire House of Representatives today, tried to start with a joke, said it was fabulous to be in a House dominated by Republicans, but he got some criticism for that from some Republicans as a matter of fact who said that he should’ve showed a bit more diplomacy visiting someone else’s House. So there were about two or three of the lawmakers we spoke to who criticized him for that. As far as what he spoke about, he stuck to a theme that is very familiar to him, that is getting help for those who are addicts and preaching for more care and compassion and less time for putting people in jail. He said that he is a pro-life Republican and that, as a result, he thinks that every life is a precious gift from God:
“The child in the womb is a precious, precious life, but so is the 16-year-old girl who’s addicted to heroin and laying on the floor of the country lockup. Her life is an individual life from God. So is the 42-year-old lawyer who is addicted to painkillers and can’t keep his job or maintain his family. His life is a precious gift from God, too. We need to stop judging in this area as much as we need to start caring.”
So he had a few people actually walk out as he came in to speak. We’re not sure if that was some sort of Christie protest. It was hard to tell. But those who remained, about 380 or so, representatives gave him a standing ovation and were mostly polite throughout his speech, Mary Alice.
Williams: David, is he the only candidate to speak before the House?
Cruz: No, I’m told that all the candidates have been invited. Carly Fiorina has already spoken and today Gov. [John] Kasich, Marco Rubio and Chris Christie all spoke. And the rest will come in future days. Donald Trump was scheduled to speak, canceled and has not rescheduled. The rest of the pack has yet to confirm whether or not they’ll participate.
Williams: He only had two events today. Is his schedule that open for the rest of the week?
Cruz: No, he did fit in some media appearances today, but for tomorrow he’ll have a busy day — five or six events. He’s got two town halls tomorrow, a diner visit and a roundtable and a bunch of stuff like that for the rest of the week. He will be here until Sunday. If we get a chance to get to talk to him tomorrow, we’re going to ask to see if he plans to come back to New Jersey to monitor the storm.
Williams: Was that a joint session of the New Hampshire Legislature? It looked like an awful lot of people.
Cruz: It is a lot of people. No, it was just the House of Representatives. I have some fun facts here. There are 400 members in the New Hampshire House of Representatives for a population of 1.3 million people. That is one member for every 3,200 residents. Compare that to New Jersey’s Assembly, the equivalent house. It has 80 members for a population of 8.9 million people in New Jersey and that’s one member for 112,000 people. So here in New Hampshire, they really are serious about their representative government.
Williams: OK, thank you very much David Cruz.
Cruz: All right Mary Alice.