HOPKINGTON, N.H. Having given up on a strong showing in Iowa, the three establishment governors still in the GOP presidential race spent Monday in New Hampshire, hoping to rescue their campaigns in next weeks primary.
Govs. John Kasich of Ohio and Chris Christie of New Jersey and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush all insist theyre in the race to stay, and urged voters to rally around them as mainstream Republicans answer to Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz the duo that have taken the partys presidential primary by storm.
We made a mistake seven years ago; we cant afford to make another one. If we do, we wont recognize this country, Mr. Christie told a crowd at the Hopkinton Town Hall. For the next eight days, you are the most powerful people in the world.
SEE ALSO: Live Results: Iowa Caucus Map Results
The three governors essentially skipped Iowa, where conservative evangelical voters dominate the caucuses, and have put their hopes on New Hampshire, where socially moderate voters are prevalent, and where independent candidates can vote in the Feb. 9 primary.
The RealClearPolitics.com average of polls suggests that Mr. Trump is comfortably ahead with a third of the vote. That means the race is for second place, with Mr. Kasich and Mr. Cruz tied at 11.5 percent of the vote each, followed by Mr. Bush at 10.3 percent, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida at 9.5 percent and Mr. Christie at 6.5 percent.
Its unlikely the three governors and Mr. Rubio can all emerge from New Hampshire as credible candidates and they know it.
There are people we need to finish ahead of, and we intend to do that, said John Weaver, a senior Kasich adviser. We want to clear out some people that we compete with for activists and donor support around the country.
Former New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Fergus Cullen, who endorsed Mr. Kasich, described the New Hampshire contests as an existential death struggle between Kasich and Rubio and Christie and Bush.
They dont have to beat Trump, they dont have to win New Hampshire, but they have to beat each other, he said, arguing that it would help prove their viability. If you finish third in that bracket, how can you possibly persuade mainstream Republicans and donors around the country that you are showing strength and they ought to consolidate around you?
The foursome and their allied political action committees have been trading punches for weeks in the hopes of generating some momentum by cutting the legs out from under their opponents and the barbs continued on Monday.
Mr. Christie warned against electing Mr. Rubio and Mr. Cruz, saying the Obama administration serves as a cautionary tale about what happens when a first-term senator lacking executive experience wins the White House.
Rubio and Cruz have never managed a thing, and yet we are thinking of making the same mistake from a leadership perspective that Democrats made and our country made eight years ago, Mr. Christie said. [President Obama] failed us because he ran for the presidency because it was politically advantageous, not because he was ready.
Mr. Kasich, meanwhile, challenged Mr. Christie and Mr. Bush at a pair of campaign stops to follow his lead by pulling the plug on negative attacks, and calling on their allied super PACs to do the same.
I hope Christie and Bush will take all their negative c**p off the air and get their super PACs to talk about what they are for, Mr. Kasich told reporters after a town hall meeting in Rochester, New Hampshire.
It is pretty interesting with Bush, he said. He spent about $40 million trying to tell people who he was and it didnt work, so now he plays whack-a-mole whoever rises, you know, they go and beat them down. It is a h**l of a way to run. It is taking the low road to the highest office in the country, and it is not acceptable.
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Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/feb/1/chris-christie-jeb-bush-john-kasich-hope-to-rescue/
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