NH Now: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie Says It’s Too early to Predict the NH Primary

politifact_photos_Christie_NH

By most accounts, Chris Christie came across well in the last Republican Debate. The New Jersey Governor believes that for several reasons the First in the Nation New Hampshire Primary won’t be decided until February 9th. He points out that the field is so large and diverse that lots of things can happen as some candidates will drop out. The governor has been working hard in state doing many town hall meetings. He also believes that the primary is wide open because it is the nature of New Hampshire voters to be discerning and deliberative. For this reason, he predicts that many Granit Staters won’t decide until very late.

The interview also dealt with why Christie didn’t run for president four years ago, his views on Obama’s Iran Nuclear Deal, Christie’s plans to rebuild our military, and how he would deal with the heroin epidemic. In 2012, Chris Christie had only been governor for 16 months and didn’t feel ready. Now after four years of battling with huge deficits and a liberal legislature, and hundreds of vetoes, he feels ready for the presidency. Governor Christie also believes that dealing with a disaster like Hurricane Sandy which destroyed 350,000 homes in the Garden State helped to prepare him.

Christie calls the nuclear negotiations with Iran one of worst deals in American history. He questions the wisdom of giving $100-150 billion to the world’s largest sponsor of terrorism. He is also quick to add that during our current “Honeymoon” period, the Iranian regime has stated that they will no longer speak with the Great Satan (that’s the United States) and that Israel will cease to exist in twenty five years.

The governor has also put forward an ambitious program to rebuild and refit our military which he believes has been hollowed out by the Obama administration. Christie calls for increasing our Army to 500,000; the Marine Corps to 185,000; increasing the Navy to 350 ships with special attention to upgrades in our submarine fleet; and the Air Force up to 2,600 planes that are ready to go. As an example, he mentioned that Russian leader Putin has deployed troops to Syria to tell us that if we want to do anything in this area we will have to clear with him. Christie believes that timidity and inaction by Obama has put us in this weakened position.

Many feel that Chris Christie’s ideas about the heroin epidemic would be of value because he is a former Federal Prosecutor. He declared that the war on drugs is a failure. Christie believes that we can not incarcerate our way out of this problem. In New Jersey, he has instituted Drug Courts for nonviolent first offenders. These are drug users not dealers. They are given a sentence of mandatory inpatient rehabilitation. The recidivism rate is 16% compared to 62% for drug offenders who are imprisoned. Governor Christie ended by explaining that he considers all life to be precious whether it’s in the womb or a sixteen year old with a drug problem.