Christie heads home to 'make a decision' after poor finish in N.H.
NASHUA, N.H. — Chris Christie placed his biggest presidential campaign bet on the New Hampshire primary — spending more than 70 days campaigning in the Granite State — but failed to cash in on Tuesday.
Christie was on track in early results to finish a dismal sixth in the Republican field, intensifying pressure on him to suspend his campaign so the party’s other establishment candidates can have a clearer shot at taking down maverick front-runner Donald Trump.
The results prompted Christie to abandon plans to travel to South Carolina on Wednesday for a head start on the next primary Feb. 20.
Addressing supporters with his wife Mary Pat, Christie said, “we’ve decided we’re going to go home to New Jersey tomorrow and we’re going to take a deep breath and see what the final results are.’’
“That should allow us to make a decision about how we move from here. We’ll go home to New Jersey tomorrow morning. We’ll make a decision on our next step forward based on the results.’’
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Christie had polled as high as 12% in New Hampshire around the holidays, a period proclaimed by his supporters as a surge.
But the results for Christie were poor for the second straight week. He finished 10th in the Iowa caucuses.
Christie will be hard-pressed to justify to donors and other supporters he has a path forward, said Christopher Galdieri, an assistant professor in the Department of Politics at Saint Anselm College near Manchester, N.H.
The college hosted a debate last weekend when Christie drew attention for cutting down Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Galdieri said Christie was at risk of appearing too aggressive, creating a “boomerang effect.’’
By not finishing in the top five, Christie failed to qualify for the next debate sponsored by CBS News on Saturday, which alone is a potential knockout blow.
“I think Christie has to think hard about continuing since it is 12 days to South Carolina and he has little organization there,’’ Galdieri said. “But then the question is whether he endorses someone on the way out.’’
Christie started the day with high hopes, meeting cheering volunteers at a polling place in Manchester and then at his regional campaign headquarters in Bedford.
He said early in the day that he had no intention of suspending his campaign even if he did poorly in New Hampshire. "I can’t imagine a scenario tonight under which I wouldn’t be on a plane to South Carolina tomorrow morning. But, we’ll see. There are lots of things that have happened in this campaign that nobody could imagine. But I feel really good about where we are and what we’re doing,’’ he said.