HAMPTON, N.H. — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie gleefully celebrated his tough debate clash with Florida Sen. [crscore]Marco Rubio[/crscore] and attempted to portray himself as the one Republican candidate who can take on Hillary Clinton.
“You were on fire last night,” one female voter told Christie during a town hall event here Sunday morning.
“And I don’t intend to cool off until I beat Hillary Clinton,” Christie replied.
It was his first public event after Saturday night’s Republican debate in which he went after Rubio for lacking experience and only giving scripted speeches. (VIDEO: Christie Shreds Rubio)
“Through a lot of these earlier debates, the media was saying to me, Gov. Christie, when are you going to challenge somebody? When are we going to see the Gov. Christie of old? When are you going to engage with Donald Trump? When are you going to engage with Marco Rubio? When are you going to engage with [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore]?” Christie said.
“And I told them, I’m going to engage in a time and place of my choosing, not before, not when the media wants to. And so I decided to engage last night, and how do you think it went?”
The crowd of several hundred at Hampton Academy applauded loudly.
Christie then compared Rubio with President Barack Obama, who was elected as a first-term senator. “Barack Obama does not know what he’s doing.”
“We can beat [Clinton] with the right person. But we cannot beat her with someone who is the exact same thing,” he said of Rubio.
“We cannot nominate a first-term United States senator, and the media and the chattering class is trying to stampede New Hampshire into handing this thing over to someone who I have said for weeks has not be tested, has not been proven, and when the lights go on, I told you that he wouldn’t be ready. Well, the lights were bright last night, and all of America saw who’s ready and who’s not,” he continued. “I am. He’s not. I’m ready to beat Hillary Clinton, and with your help on Tuesday we will do it.”
He also said his rhetorical fight with Rubio is “not personal.”
“The fact is, I like Sen. Rubio. He’s a good man and a good American. He’s just not ready,” Christie said.