Christie under attack as rivals sense him rising in NH

In a new television advertisement Monday, the former Florida governor, whose campaign rests on how he competes in the leadoff primary next month, features excerpts from a speech he delivered last month in SC.

Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio kept up his attacks against Hillary Clinton during a campaign swing in Nashua, new Hampshire. Titled, “Look at me”, the ad bashes Christie for mismanaging New Jersey, where he’s now beginning his third year of his second term in office.

So why are some of the other candidates suddenly beating up on Christie?

Jeb Bush is hinting strongly that his closing argument to New Hampshire voters will be about US military buildup specifically aimed at defeating the Islamic State group. He then attacked Rubio on immigration.

Rubio, now running second behind Trump in New Hampshire, took the most direct aim at Cruz, the frontrunner in Iowa. “There is going to be a sobriety that kicks and people are going to take it seriously”, Bush said Tuesday night in Meredith, New Hampshire.

Christie is also arguing that he has the political skills to bring the party together and beat the likely Democratic nominee. The Florida senator mentioned Christie’s support for Common Core education standards, an assault weapons ban and gun control, as well as a donation to Planned Parenthood. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., listens during the first Republican presidential debate at the Quicken Loans Arena Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015, in Cleveland.

“Chris Christie is missing out of New Jersey most of the time, that’s why his numbers there are so bad”, he said.

The narrator reads this tagline: “Chris Christie…high taxes…weak economy…scandal…Not what we need in the White House”.

Republican presidential candidate, New Jersey Gov. Gov. Chris Christie shakes hands with students during a campaign stop at a college student convention, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, in Manchester, N.H.

“Not somebody who is a first time United States senator, who has never had a tough race in his life”, Christie continued. For months, operatives here whispered that the campaign low-balled salary offers for top jobs, hurting Rubio’s bid to hire experienced Iowa hands.

“There’s a creeping feeling that somehow Trump is operating under a different set of rules than anyone else is, so the typical rules of negative advertising and its effects don’t apply to him”, Scala said.

Now’s not the time for Christie to directly engage Trump, said Geoffrey Skelley, associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, produced by the University of Virginia Center for Politics. This week, Christie called Obama a “petulant child” and said he was ruling like a “dictator” for even considering the order. In an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier this past fall, Christie denied that gun-control was a motivating factor for his decision to enter politics. The ad debuted as he gears up for a three-day campaign trip in New Hampshire beginning Tuesday.

Bush and Kasich, both with executive experience, have recently criticized Christie’s stewardship of New Jersey and his conservative credentials.