Standing before a banner that read “Tell It Like It Is” and a giant American flag, Chris Christie used Wednesday's nearly two hour event in Londonderry to cast himself as a politician for telling the truth and letting his own character be his guide.
“My mother taught me a very simple lesson when I was a kid, be yourself because then tomorrow you don’t have to try to remember who you were trying to be yesterday,” Christie told the packed room at the Lions Club.
Christie took more than a dozen questions, on issues ranging from ISIS and Cuba to college affordability and tax reform, often using his answers to take aim at the policies of the White House, but he didn’t shy away from disagreeing with his questioners.
Voter Bill Chayne of Hudson gave Christie credit for his candor. “I don’t think he was giving us the answers we want to hear, I think he was giving the answers he believed in, which is all you can ask of someone,” Chayne said after the town hall meeting.
Polling in N.H. and nationally show Christie losing traction in the race for the GOP nomination, but Christie told voters that if he gets into the race, which he said he will not decide until early summer, town hall meetings will be a staple of his campaign.
Christie plans to return to the Granite State Friday to speak at the "First of the Nation" Republican Summit in Nashua. He’ll also hold another town hall meeting in Exeter.