New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie made his fourth trip to Connecticut in six weeks Monday to stump for Republican Tom Foley.
“Tom and I started on a job four years ago and we’re going to finish this job with eight days left. Dan Malloy I hope you’re listening, your days are numbered,” Christie told Foley supporters at a beer garden in Groton.
Christie, who is the head of the Republican Governors Association, will spend the next eight days stumping for Republican gubernatorial candidates in 18 states.
Christie spent most of the day Monday with Rick Scott in Florida and is headed to Maine Tuesday to stump for Maine Gov. Paul LePage. The RGA has spent $18 million on Scott’s race in Florida, according to the Herald Tribune, and $6.7 million on Foley in Connecticut.
Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, according to this Politico article, is not happy that the RGA has only given him $8 million. He told Politico he needs more money for television ads to stay competitive with his Democratic challenger, who has had both former President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama visit that state on her behalf.
Sound familiar?
Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who polls show is in a dead heat with Foley, hosted a rally with Clinton earlier this month and plans to attend a rally with Obama two days before the election.
Unlike Walker, Foley, who received $6.5 million in public financing, said he’s very happy to have Christie’s support.
Asked about how he views the race in Connecticut, Christie said he doesn’t agree with the premise that the needle hasn’t moved in favor of Foley. A recent Quinnipiac University poll show Foley’s favorability rating slip into negative territory for the first time, while Malloy’s unfavorables stayed about the same.
“I think the needle is moving here and you’re going to see it on Nov. 4,” Christie told reporters Monday. “I just see different things than you’re seeing right now because I’m not allowed to coordinate with the Foley campaign. I’d have to make Foley leave the room.”
Christie said the numbers he’s seeing are favorable, but he declined to offer more detail.
“I’m seeing different things. I like what I’m seeing,” Christie added. “I think on Election Day you’re going to see Tom Foley win this race.”
Christie, who has had an ongoing rivalry with Malloy, described the governor as “an angry guy.”
He said when someone does something well you compliment them. Christie said he complimented Malloy on his response to the Newtown school shooting.
“That’s leadership,” Christie said. “What Dan Malloy does is just play partisan angry politics.”
He added that “if that’s what the people of Connecticut want, then that’s what they’ve gotten for the last four years.”
Malloy supporters stood across the street from the Groton restaurant Monday chanting “Christie is corrupt.”
“Campaigning with Chris Christie in Connecticut yet again shows just how little Tom Foley cares about the issues facing Connecticut’s working families,” Sal Luciano, executive director of AFSCME Council 4, said. “This is the same governor who says that he’s ‘sick and tired’ of hearing about raising the minimum wage and consistently sides with the interests of rich guys like Tom Foley over improving the quality of life for thousands of hard working people in New Jersey. We certainly don’t need that level of contempt for working and middle-class families here in Connecticut.”
Asked by a reporter from France if he was considering a presidential bid, Christie said he’s focused on getting Republican governors elected and at the beginning of next year, “we’ll make a decision whether to run for president or not.”
“I haven’t been coy about it,” Christie said of his interest in the position. “. . . There’s no reason to make a decision before next year.”
Meanwhile, the New Jersey news media traveled to Groton to get Christie’s reaction to a lawsuit filed by a healthcare worker who was quarantined by the governor.
Christie was asked to explain what he meant by in-home quarantine for those returning from West Africa.
“If someone is asymptomatic they can be quarantined in their home,” Christie said. “If they become symptomatic, then they need to move to a healthcare facility in New Jersey or a Tier 1 facility in Atlanta or Nebraska.”
Christie said it was not as complicated as the news media was making it.
Last week, Foley tried to walk back the tone he used in a radio interview when asked about Malloy’s handling of Ebola in Connecticut.
“I actually support what the governor did a few weeks ago, which was to prepare the public health organization we have in this state for a potential infection from Ebola. And I support the quarantine program,” Foley said Friday.
