POLITICO Nightly: Chris Christie’s debate dilemma

 

BY MIA MCCARTHY AND LISA KASHINSKY Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks alongside former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley during the NBC News Republican Presidential Primary Debate on November 8, 2023 in Miami, Florida. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images LAST STAND — Chris Christie needs a strong showing in New Hampshire. Nikki Haley is standing in his way. Until recently, it hasn’t been much of an issue. But Haley’s surge in the polls — particularly in New Hampshire — suddenly makes her a serious threat to Christie’s prospects, adding a level of strategic intrigue to tonight’s Republican primary debate in Alabama. In past debates, the two former governors functioned as near-allies on the stage, operating as policy realists, united in their disdain for bomb-throwing foe Vivek Ramaswamy. Their attacks were directed toward the other candidates. They had similar answers on increasing the age eligibility of Social Security and leaving abortion decisions in the hands of state governments. When asked in one recent debate about the question of whether America should continue to fund Ukraine, Christie not only backed up Haley’s position, he highlighted her expertise as a former U.N. ambassador. “The fact is, this alliance is not just with Russia and China — Governor Haley knows this, Iran is in the middle of this as well and so is North Korea. They are all working to support Russia right now,” Christie said in his answer, underscoring a point Haley outlined less than a minute before about an “unholy alliance.” In the third debate, viewers got an especially revealing glimpse at the Christie-Haley alliance: Their side-by-side placement on the stage made it easy to catch one of them nodding in agreement while the other spoke. DON'T BELIEVE THE POLLS!  NO ONE WITH CALLER ID ANSWERS THEIR PHONES! NIKKI HALEY IS A LOSER, PROMOTED BY DIRTY ENERGY KOCH - ANOTHER BOUGHT & PAID FOR CANDIDATE!   But the former New Jersey governor is staking his campaign on New Hampshire, where he crashed and burned in 2016. He likely needs a top-two finish to have any shot at moving forward next year. Right now, the 538 polling average shows him in third place, trailing Haley but ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. As elsewhere, former President Donald Trump remains far and away the frontrunner in the state. All of this means that, in order to emerge as the alternative to Trump and get the one-on-one match-up he craves, Christie has to go through Haley. So he’s recently started ramping up the attacks on her on the campaign trail. Dire warnings about nominating Trump for a third time still feature in Christie’s stump speeches, as do the knocks about Trump peddling 2020 election fraud theories and not finishing the southern border wall. But in the weeks since the Nov. 8 debate, his speeches have turned primarily into vehicles for Christie to draw sharp contrasts with Haley. Christie, for instance, seized on Haley’s recent remark in Iowa that she would have signed a six-week abortion ban if it hit her desk when she was still governor of South Carolina. “You cannot be a truth-teller and say one version of the truth in Iowa when you’re in front of a very conservative group, and then when you’re here in New Hampshire, with a libertarian audience, a ‘live free or die’ audience, you have a different answer that you’ll think they’ll like,” Christie told around 100 people crammed into a restaurant event space in Concord last week. Christie’s stump-speech revamp reflects the conundrum his campaign faces: Christie is rising in polls of likely GOP primary voters in the Granite State, but so is Haley, a rival whom he clearly respects. While they have a longstanding relationship that dates back to when both served as governors together, she stands directly in his path. Which brings us to tonight — the fourth debate that could be Christie’s last. He can continue the alliance and hope that voters find him a more compelling choice. Or he can follow the more traditional campaign path, which is to attempt to tear Haley down. But it comes with a risk: damaging her future chances of knocking off Trump, if the anti-Trump vote ends up consolidating around her. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at mmccarthy@politico.com and lkashinsky@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @Reporter_Mia and @lisakashinsky .   Enter the “room where it happens”, where global power players shape policy and politics, with Power Play. POLITICO’s brand-new podcast will host conversations with the leaders and power players shaping the biggest ideas and driving the global conversations, moderated by award-winning journalist Anne McElvoy. Sign up today to be notified of new episodes – click here .     WHAT'D I MISS? — McCarthy plans to resign from Congress by end of year: Kevin McCarthy is officially leaving Congress. The ousted speaker is resigning from the House at the end of the year , according to an op-ed he wrote for the Wall Street Journal, concluding a nearly two-decade congressional career long-marked by his open aspirations to the chamber’s top spot, only to lose it after nine turbulent months. — Targeting costly meds, Biden admin asserts authority to seize certain drug patents: The Biden administration has determined that it has the authority to seize the patents of certain high-priced medicines , a move that could open the door to a more aggressive federal campaign to slash drug prices. The determination, which was described by three people familiar with the matter, represents the culmination of a nearly nine-month review of the government’s so-called march-in rights. Progressives have long insisted that those rights empower the administration to break the patents of pricey drugs that were developed with public funds, in an effort to create more competition and lower prices. — Nevada brings criminal charges against pro-Trump false electors: A Nevada grand jury indicted the six Republicans who falsely pledged the state’s electoral votes to Donald Trump in 2020 as Trump sought to reverse his loss to Joe Biden in the state. The so-called alternate electors, one of whom is the head of the Nevada Republican Party, are each charged with two Nevada felonies related to the documents they signed purporting to be the state’s legitimate electors. The charges are for “offering a false instrument for filing” and “uttering a forged instrument.” Attorney General Aaron Ford, a Democrat, announced the grand jury’s indictment today. NIGHTLY ROAD TO 2024 NOT THE ONLY ONE — President Joe Biden said today that he is not the only Democrat who can defeat former President Donald Trump , reports POLITICO. “I’m not the only one,” Biden said at the White House in response to a question from a reporter. “But I will defeat him.” The case that Biden was uniquely positioned to defeat Trump was central to his campaign four years ago. DESANTIS SUPER PAC REGROUPS — Veteran Republican strategist Phil Cox is joining Never Back Down , a super PAC supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ presidential bid, as the PAC looks to regroup following a series of leadership changes, reports POLITICO. Cox will be senior adviser to the group, according to three people familiar with the move. A longtime DeSantis ally, he will advise the board of directors and oversee the PAC’s field and budget strategy, said the people, who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. AROUND THE WORLD A Jordanian humanitarian aid convoy enters the Gaza Strip from Egypt in Rafah on Nov. 20, 2023. | Hatem Ali/AP SECOND PATH — The Biden administration is urging Israel to open a second Gaza crossing so more humanitarian aid can reach Palestinians, three U.S. officials and three aid group leaders said — but Israel has so far rebuffed those requests, reports POLITICO. Top administration figures raise the opening of Kerem Shalom — a vital throughway that Israel has kept closed over military and political concerns — “in every meeting,” a senior U.S. official said. Critics say the closure keeps essential food, water, medicine, winter clothing and other aid from reaching Gaza’s 2.3 million people. The outreach comes as international aid organizations have pushed the administration in private meetings, including with national security adviser Jake Sullivan, to use its leverage with Israel to open the crossing. “We have been engaged with Israel to enable a surge of humanitarian assistance through multiple mechanisms and options, including Kerem Shalom,” confirmed a second U.S. official, like others granted anonymity to detail a sensitive diplomatic discussion. A third administration official said such urgings have been delivered behind closed doors “for weeks.” The U.N. and aid agencies have long pressed Israel to open Kerem Shalom, but the simultaneous U.S. effort behind closed doors had not been reported. The only current operational throughway into Gaza is at Rafah on the Egyptian border, but that route isn’t equipped to handle a large influx of vehicles delivering aid. Kerem Shalom, situated at the intersection of Gaza, Egypt and Israel, is far more suitable to let in hundreds of aid trucks per day, the officials and humanitarian groups say. Among other things, it is equipped with robust inspection capabilities to ensure that only humanitarian assistance gets through. But Israel is resisting American pleas on military and political grounds, the latest in a series of pushbacks that has occasionally put Washington and Tel Aviv at odds on the conduct of the war, particularly how much to prioritize civilian harm reduction. The rebuff on Kerem Shalom has made it nearly impossible for humanitarian groups operating inside Gaza to distribute much-needed medical and food supplies. Many of those organizations have amassed aid on the Egyptian side of the border at Rafah in trucks that are stuck waiting in long lines to cross.   GET A BACKSTAGE PASS TO COP28 WITH GLOBAL PLAYBOOK : Get insider access to the conference that sets the tone of the global climate agenda with POLITICO's Global Playbook newsletter. Authored by Suzanne Lynch, Global Playbook delivers exclusive, daily insights and comprehensive coverage that will keep you informed about the most crucial climate summit of the year. Dive deep into the critical discussions and developments at COP28 from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12. SUBSCRIBE NOW .     NIGHTLY NUMBER $2 million The amount of money that advocacy organizations supporting Israel in its war with Hamas have spent on Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram in the last month. That’s roughly 100 times more than groups aligned with Palestinians and Arabs, according to an analysis by POLITICO. RADAR SWEEP DISINFORMATION ERA — A new disinformation campaign has put phony, pro-Russia quotes in front of 7.6 million Facebook users since November — quotes allegedly made by some of the most well known celebrities in the world. None of these quotes were said by the celebrities, who include Beyonce, Justin Bieber, Jennifer Lopez, Cristiano Ronaldo and even TIME’s Person of the Year Taylor Swift. But their placement with quotes such as “The Ukrainians behave like charlatans and we continue to pay,” next to Swift’s face, and “Every time the Ukrainians get money, everything goes wrong,” on a poster with Selena Gomez, makes it appear these celebrities said these statements. The campaign is linked to Russia’s GRU military spy agency and has also made its way on X, formerly known as Twitter. In this story for WIRED, David Gilbert unpacks the scheme and how it is spreading anti-Ukrainian propaganda. PARTING IMAGE On this date in 1992: A militant Hindu fundamentalist holds a brick and another one holds a sword as thousands storm the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, India. Thousands of militants razed the 430-year old Muslim mosque to clear the site for a proposed Hindu temple. The incident resulted in several months of nationwide Hindu-Muslim violence in the country, causing the death of at least 2,000. | Udo Weitz/AP Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh   FOLLOW US

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