By David Cruz
Correspondent
New Hampshire does things its own way. Their House of Representatives has 400 members. That’s almost as much as the U.S. House of Representatives, which has 435. It is here where Chris Christie started his week. Did I mention he’s been here a lot?
“Mr. Speaker please welcome the governor of the great state of New Hampshire. The honorable Chris Christie.”
“How completely fabulous to be in a house dominated by Republicans,” Christie said to a mix of cheers and boos. “That’s OK.”
For the Christie campaign, talking to a bunch of politicians in a stuffy House chamber is not what they came here for. He’s much better in this setting — the town hall. Fifty-two and counting in the Granite State.
“I only have one rule in New Hampshire town hall meetings. You raise your hand, I call on you and you get to ask a question. See in New Jersey, I have four rules for town hall meetings. That’ll just tell you the difference between New Jersey and New Hampshire,” Christie said.
Diner stops, big and small, are also a staple here, even if sometimes there are more reporters than diners. But when the governor shows, we are all sure to follow. Diner stops can be hit and miss, especially when unsuspecting customers just want to be left alone, but here, Christie finds friendly faces.
One vote at a time is the Christie mantra and he spends time here talking specifics with practically anyone who asks.
“The military. What are you going to do?” asked one diner.
Christie replied, “Army should be up to 500,000 active duty soldiers. Marines should be no lower than 185,000 active duty Marines. We should go from a 260-ship Navy to a 350-ship Navy. And no fewer than 2,600 coded Aircraft in the Air Force ready to go.”
On his way to the SUV, a reporter asks whether the governor has read the new biography about him that hit the stands this week.
“Why would I ever read Matt Katz’s book?” he asked.
Later he holds a town hall in a cafeteria of a local manufacturer and gets a rousing reception. On the tour he knows better than to try any of the machinery.
“Don’t put me back there. Things will not go all that well,” he said.
Then off to another town hall on the other side of the state. Many of these reporters have heard these stories again.
“I told them this is what I will do, though. If you close the government. That’s fine,” he said. “Fine by me. I’ll get back to the black SUVs. I’ll order a pizza, open a beer and I’ll watch the Mets.”
And again.
“I’m the only person in this race who’s done anything about terrorism in their career.”
“I called it story time with Barack Obama.”
“Remember the days after Sept. 11.”
The governor’s staff too, have heard these stories. You can find them hanging in the back of the room, monitoring social media and watching for crowd reaction to things like his Donald Trump impression.
This afternoon the Christie cavalcade announced that it was heading back to New Jersey. After all even a guy running for president 300 miles away knows how to read a weather map.