MILWAUKEE — Bobby Jindal says he wanted to square off against Chris Christie Tuesday night because he believes the New Jersey governor is simply a “big government Republican” who would not solve the country’s problems.
The Louisiana governor was the first candidate to dive into the waiting cameras and microphones of the press inside the post-debate “Spin Room” following Tuesday night’s undercard GOP primary debate.
“This is an important debate,” Jindal began, after being asked about his strategy of strafing fellow Republicans on the debate stage. “We as Republicans need to be serious about shrinking the size of government.”
“Now I know Chris didn’t respond to many of my questions,” Jindal went on. Indeed, Christie spent the debate pivoting constantly to Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee.
“He can’t defend his record,” Jindal said in the Spin Room, “so of course he wants to switch the topic to Hillary, talk about other things — this is an important debate.”
“The idea of America is what’s at stake. The America dream’s what’s at stake,” Jindal said. “We have to shrink the size of government. If we’re not serious about that, there’s no point in this election. We’ve got to be serious about that.”
“Sending another big government Republican to D.C. will not solve our country’s problems.”
Christie did not appear in the Spin Room Tuesday evening. A Christie surrogate told reporters that his debate performance spoke for itself.
Eric Owens contributed to this report.