Thread: Christie stays away from immigration debate in Arizona campaign stop

By Claude Brodesser-Akner
NJ.com
on October 02, 2014 at 10:10 PM, updated October 02, 2014 at 10:11 PM

PHOENIX - Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday campaigned for Arizona’s Republican candidate, Doug Ducey, who is in a race that has so far focused on border security and immigration policy.

But the New Jersey governor, who heads the Republican Governor’s Association and is mulling a run for president, kept his comments to supporting the candidate, and refused to answer a question from an NJ Advance Media reporter about border security.

Ducey has made border security and immigration one of the centerpieces of his campaign, saying that immigration and security "begins with securing the border." Asked by a reporter what those specific words meant to him, Christie gave no response before leaving the press conference.

Christie, whose New Jersey polling numbers have ebbed to a three-year low, made a brief stop to take questions from reporters at a Ducey for Governor phone bank in Phoenix before heading to an RGA fundraiser in nearby Scottsdale and a separate Ducey for Governor fundraiser. It’s his second trip to the Arizona since becoming head of the RGA, during which he has raised a record-breaking total of more than $75 million.

The two men had spoken by telephone before, but never met until today.

"The fact is, I know his history," said Christie, "This is a person who's been extraordinarily successful in his life, and someone who's going to bring those skills and talents to the governorship of Arizona. The people of Arizona should be very excited about having a governor like this, who's a real professional and will bring the professionalism and success to the governor's chair."

Ducey is the former CEO of Coldstone Creamery, a job he left in 2007 when the company was sold. He helped build Cold Stone from a single shop in Arizona to more than 1,400 stores globally, with annual sales of nearly $500 million. Shortly after the sale, a dispute erupted with buyer Kahala Corp. and though a settlement related to the sale was resolved through arbitration, records of that settlement are not public. Cold Stone Creamery is ranked among the 10 worst franchise brands in terms of Small Business Administration loan defaults from 2004-2013, leaving consumers on the hook for almost $34 million in loans, with almost a third of Cold Stone franchises failing during that time.

In the race between Ducey and Democratic challenger Fred DuVal, political campaign ads peppering the airwaves claim that in addition to immigrants who would take American jobs, terrorists who may take American lives are streaming over the U.S. Border.

Christie has sharply criticized President Obama’s stances on the Middle East crisis and border security, but declines to offer any alternatives, saying he won’t unless he becomes a presidential candidate.

So far, the Arizona race is a squeaker, but the dead heat is driven as much by the vagueness of both candidates’ economic plans as by the state’s own peculiar electoral politics: Independents recently shoved past Republicans to become the largest voting block at almost 35 percent of Arizona’s registered voters, mirroring national voter registration. But according pollsters, Arizona’s 1.11 million independents are also the least-engaged voters, and statistically the least likely to go out and pull the lever for anybody. As such, Christie’s on hand to lend his higher profile to a crucial get out the vote effort for Ducey, the state’s little-known treasurer.

Still, it’s an open question if Christie’s racking up of frequent flier miles out-of-state is costing him in support back home. A Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday found that Christie’s job approval rating is at its lowest in three years, with forty-six percent of New Jersey voters approving of the job Christie’s doing with an almost equal number (45 percent) disapproving. And when New Jersey voters were asked who they would back for president, they chose former New York U.S. Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over Christie, 50 percent to 40 percent, according to the poll.

The Arizona trip will be followed by more RGA fundraising and campaigning trips to Colorado and Iowa by week’s end.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf...aign_stop.html

Chris Christie should stay home! He is more likely to hurt than help someone's campaign!

W