Christie Coming Back To N.J. Ahead Of Major Storm

UPDATE: Chris Christie said he’s changed his mind and is coming home. Read more...

ORIGINAL STORY:

Gov. Chris Christie said he isn’t planning to come back to New Jersey this weekend, when a nor’easter blizzard is in the forecast, because he’ll be campaigning for president.

“The lieutenant governor is there and she’s handling things on the ground,” Christie told reporters in New Hampshire. ”If I’m need to go back I would.”

“It’s too speculative to know” the possible impact of the storm,” Christie said in a video of his appearance with reporters provided by 6abc. But, he added, “we’re preparing for the worst.“

“We’ve been through this dance a bunch of times before and, so, from my perspective, we’re doing the things we need to do in terms of the getting the roadways ready, in terms of potential coastal flooding,” he said.

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Christie’s decision wasn’t met with a lot of approval from New Jersey residents. News12 offered a poll Friday that showed nearly 4 in every 5 New Jerseyans disapproved of Christie’s decision to stay away.

“New Jersey could get walloped and Christie could be the star of the show,” Patrick Murray, the Monmouth University pollster, told northjersey.com. “But that’s not going to help him win the hearts and minds of New Hampshire voters.”

Christie also said in the video that “we’ve gone through this rodeo a bunch of times before. We know how to do it” and said he “gave everybody their assignments” during a call Wednesday night.

There also was no word as to whether Christie would declare a state of emergency. Pennsylvania issued such an order Thursday afternoon just before a “Blizzard Warning” was issued for the state’s eastern counties and nearly all of New Jersey.

Read more: Hour-By-Hour Forecast Of Nor’easter Snowstorm In N.J.

Local officials were bracing for a storm that could bring more than a foot of snow to N.J. and flooding along the coast.

Christie, noting he is scheduled to be in New Hampshire through Monday, said he’s in constant touch with his aides and “if they need me... they can just call me and get me.”

The incoming nor’easter, which is packing winds of at least 50 mph, has the potential to cause major coastal flooding, particularly around Saturday morning’s high tide, according to the forecast discussion of the National Weather Service issued Wednesday afternoon.