A Big First Decision

By Mac Cerullo

This feature story was originally written on Feb. 8, 2016 for Professor Mitchell Zuckoff’s Feature Writing class.

The crowd has filed out, the reporters are packing up their equipment, but a handful of stragglers remain behind to greet the man they hope will be the next president of the United States.

Among them is a short woman with straight black hair, who proudly looked on as her 12-year-old son Joe greets Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor and a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

“He said it was on his bucket list, to see a presidential candidate,” Tina Tedesco says.

This Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary holds a special significance for Tedesco and her family: It will mark her first vote in a presidential election.

Though Tedesco lives in Hooksett, N.H., and spent much of her adult life in the Bronx, she was born in Italy and didn’t become a U.S. citizen until 2013.

She’s taking the election very seriously, so when she heard Christie would be in town a short drive down the road in Londonderry, she and a couple of friends hopped in the car, brought their kids and listened to what the governor had to say.

Like many of the others who attended Christie’s rally, Tedesco is still undecided on who she will vote for in Tuesday’s primary, and with the New Hampshire primary likely the make or break moment of his campaign, Christie’s mission this week is to win the support of as many undecided voters like Tedesco as possible.

New Hampshire is especially crucial to Christie in light of his 10th place finish in the Iowa caucuses, where he earned only 1.8 percent of the vote and finished behind political heavyweights like Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and Mike Huckabee, who had dropped out of the race before the final votes had even been tallied.

Despite that result, the atmosphere at his Londonderry rally the night after the Iowa caucus was largely upbeat. “American Made” by the Oak Ridge Boys and a heavy selection of fellow-Jersey native Bon Jovi buzzed softly over the sound system as voters filed in, and supporters appeared undaunted by the poor showing in Iowa.

Notably, members of the campaign made no attempt to hide their excitement to be out of Iowa. Wayne MacDonald, N.H. chairman of Christie’s campaign, went as far as to say the two states are almost “mutually exclusive” and they never really stood a chance in Iowa.

“We fought the good fight, but if we had to pick and choose where we wanted to do well, we’re more focused on New Hampshire,” MacDonald said. “But we wanted to make a good effort in Iowa, and we did. We’re happy with the effort we made, we’re honored by the support we received.”

Instead of dwelling on the Iowa results, Christie spent his hour-long town hall rally stating his case to the voters and answering questions from the 200 or so people in attendance. Though he generally avoided mentioning his opponents by name, he repeatedly contrasted his experience as governor with his opponents from the Senate.

Once in the question and answer segment, Christie laid out his positions on whatever topics the voters were interested in. One voter asked what qualifications he’d like to see in a Supreme Court nominee, to which he immediately said someone like conservative Justice Samuel Alito. Another asked about his immigration plan, prompting Christie to dive into his lengthy and detailed five-point plan – while also taking the opportunity to mock Donald Trump’s “great big wall.”

But Christie’s big pitch to the voters came toward the end, when a voter asked how he would handle an increasingly polarized and hostile Congress. Christie said his experience working with a state legislature in New Jersey dominated by Democrats would make the difference for him, and that at the end of the day, personal relationships are the key to getting anything done in Washington, something he said many people have forgotten in recent years.

“This is still a personal business, we don’t create anything, we don’t manufacture anything, we govern, and those personal relationships matter,” he said.

After the rally, many attendees indicated that they had enjoyed Christie’s speech and found his message to be appealing. One of Tedesco’s friends said she’d likely be voting for him. While Tedesco’s son was speaking with Christie, she said she appreciated his straightforward style.

“I thought he was very informative, he answered all of the questions and didn’t skirt around the questions,” Tedesco said. “I’m not much into politicians, but I like him, and I’m from New York, I like him because he’s from New Jersey and has the same kind of attitude I do.”

But will that feeling translate into a vote in Tuesday’s primary?

“I’ll have to make a decision on Tuesday,” she said with a smile.