Christie wins applause on economy

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ripped the Obama economy at the beginning of Tuesday’s undercard debate, relaying a story to illustrate his point that people are having a hard time getting by in a weak economic recovery. 

Christie told a story about a New Hampshire woman who told him that she feels “this awful anxiety in the pit of my stomach” when her bills come every month, adding that it’s a typical feeling for Americans under President Obama’s leadership.

{mosads}“There are tens of millions of Americans living that way after the worst recovery from an economic recession since World War II,” Christie said.

“If we do not change course, if we follow the president’s lead, and that’s exactly what Secretary Clinton will do, we will be in the same circumstances, with government picking winners and losers.”

Christie bashed the tax code as “rigged” for the rich and called to get rid of all special interest tax deductions, except the mortgage interest deduction and charitable rates deduction, which would allow the country to pare down the IRS.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee went further, echoing the conservative call to abolish the IRS entirely after lamenting the decline of manufacturing jobs in America.

“We don’t reduce the IRS, we get rid of the RIS,” Huckabee said.

“Because the government has no business knowing how much money we make and how we made it. It’s none of their business.”

Christie and Huckabee’s presence in the undercard debate shook up the contest, which has seen a different make up of candidates in the past. Last month’s second-tier debate included former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.) and Gov. Bobby Jindal (La.), as well as Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and former Gov. George Pataki (N.Y.).

While Christie and Huckabee missed the 2.5 percent threshold to make the main-stage debate, Graham and Pataki failed to score a percent in any of the polls Fox Business Network picked, and dropped out of the debates altogether.