Soon after Chris Christie stunned the Republican political world by endorsing Donald Trump for president on Friday, the leaders of the New Jersey governor's own presidential effort in Iowa and New Hampshire voiced sharply different opinions of his surprise move.
"I'm extremely disappointed," Connie Schmett, who helped quarterback the Christie effort in the Iowa caucuses, told Newsmax.
Schmett, who spoke to us while watching the Christie endorsement on television, said "I certainly didn't want him to endorse Trump. I wished he had endorsed no one rather than Trump."
She added that her former favorite candidate "perhaps thought he could talk some common sense into Trump, but after watching him on the debates, I don't see how anyone can do that. He's out of control."
Schmett and her husband, former Polk County (Des Moines) GOP Chairman Kim Schmett, were both Hawkeye State leaders for Mitt Romney's presidential bids in 2008 and 2012. Both signed on with Christie last year and, after his withdrawal from the race following the New Hampshire primary, both signed on as supporters of Marco Rubio.
"And most of our friends in Iowa have come over to Marco," she told us.
Wayne McDonald, chairman of the Christie campaign in the New Hampshire primary, expressed a different view.
"I wasn't really surprised," said McDonald, a former state Republican chairman. "Gov. Christie and [wife] Mary Pat know Trump well and, in fact, went to his wedding. There is a history between them and he knows Trump best."
As for his own favorite candidate after Christie, McDonald told us he "really never had a second choice. And most of Gov. Christie's supporters in New Hampshire feel the same way. He was such a good candidate and such a pleasure to campaign with that none of us have an urge to go anywhere in the nomination fight. I plan to support the eventual nominee."
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax.
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