Christie hammers Rubio in GOP debate

GOFFSTOWN, N.H. - With his presidential aspirations on the line, Gov. Christie scalded Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as a lightweight Saturday in the last Republican televised debate before the pivotal New Hampshire primary.

Christie hit the first-term senator for abandoning his own immigration bill when it encountered turbulence, for having few accomplishments, and for dodging questions with canned remarks.

"You haven't been involved in a consequential decision where you had to be held accountable," Christie said, arguing that Rubio is as inexperienced as President Obama was when Obama was elected in 2008.

"Do not make the same mistake again," he advised voters.

Rubio shot back that New Jersey's credit rating has been downgraded nine times under Christie. "The experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out," he said.

After a surprisingly strong third-place finish in Iowa, Rubio has risen to second in New Hampshire, according to recent polls. That makes him the leader in the sub-race to emerge as the chief alternative to real estate mogul Donald Trump and conservative Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for mainstream Republicans.

It also made him a target.

Christie - along with Ohio Gov. John Kasich and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush - also wants to dominate the so-called establishment lane and had been counting on New Hampshire as a launchpad. To succeed, it was imperative for someone to slow Rubio's roll.

Bush also took shots at Rubio, but Christie carried the brunt of the battle. Kasich stayed above the fight and stuck with a positive message about the need to get beyond anger and overcome partisan divisions.

Seven candidates out of the original 17 met on the stage at St. Anselm College here in a 2 1/2-hour debate broadcast on ABC News. New Hampshire holds the first primary in the nominating contest Tuesday.

Trump, who skipped last week's debate in Iowa because of a feud with Fox News, returned Saturday, hoping to regain momentum after he faded to second place in the caucuses. He leads in the New Hampshire polls. Bush tangled with Trump on the issue of eminent domain, but he was largely unscathed.

Playing the role of Trump antagonist, Bush blasted Trump for supporting the abuse of the government's power to take private property for public uses. Seeking to take a woman's house for "a limousine parking lot for his casinos" in Atlantic City was "not a public use."

Bush "wants to be the tough guy," Trump scoffed.

"How tough is it to take property from an elderly woman?" Bush retorted.

As some in the audience cheered, Trump said: "That's all of his donors and special interests."

Then boos and jeers increased as Trump said that the tickets to the debate hall went to big GOP donors. The reason "they're not loving me," he said, is "I don't want their money; I don't need their money."

At another point, Trump said he would take extraordinary measures for questioning suspected terrorists. "I would bring back waterboarding and a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding," he said.

Kasich emphasized a bipartisan message, saying solving problems required being "Americans first," and placing "party and ideology second." He also voiced support for legalizing - but not granting citizenship - to immigrants in the country illegally, if they hadn't committed crimes and paid back taxes and fines first.

Cruz, who won the Iowa caucuses, said that it would be possible to deport the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country.

"You enforce the law," Cruz said. "Enforcing the law - we can do it. What is missing is the political will."

He noted that Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush deported 12 million and 10 million illegal immigrants respectively.

Cruz was asked about his campaign spreading a false report ahead of the Iowa caucuses that retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was quitting the race; Cruz blamed the error on reporting by CNN.

"I apologized to him then, and I do so now," Cruz said.

Carson said he was not going to "speak ill of another Republican." But "I was very disappointed that members of his team thought so little of me," Carson said, adding that he wouldn't "just walk away" from his campaign volunteers, one of whom died in a car accident.

"Guess what? I'm still here. And I'm not going any place either," Carson said, asserting there was "still a place here for faith, integrity, and common sense."

Christie's assault on Rubio was unrelenting. After several of the blows, Rubio said Obama "knows exactly what he's doing" and is effectively trying to remake the United States. The point was that it is the values of the leader that counts, not age or experience.

Christie called it a "memorized 25-second speech that is exactly what his advisers gave him."

Rubio ripped Christie for his initial reluctance to return to New Jersey two weeks ago when the state was expecting a major snowstorm.

"They had to shame you into going back," Rubio said.

"You know what the shame is, Marco?" Christie said. "The shame is that you would actually criticize somebody for showing up to work, plowing the streets, getting the trains running back on time when you've never been responsible for that in your entire life."

Late in the debate, Christie and Bush drew a contrast with Rubio on abortion; while Rubio said he supported an exception to a ban in cases where a mother's life was threatened, both Christie and Bush said there should also be exceptions in cases of rape and incest.

It was the eighth televised Republican debate of the 2016 cycle and the first one without an earlier "undercard" event for lower-polling candidates. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore were left off the stage Saturday.

tfitzgerald@phillynews.com215-854-2718@tomfitzgerald

www.philly.com/bigtent

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