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"New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie held a news conference Thursday to try to put a growing bridge scandal behind him.The stakes are high because Christie is viewed as a top Republican presidential contender in 2016.\"For those who say, 'Who cares about the George Washington Bridge?' If I'm a voter in Iowa or New Hampshire, I don't even know what that bridge is. The obvious retort is most people didn't know what Bain Capital was three years ago, and we saw how Democrats could make that an issue,\" WMUR political analyst James Pindell said.New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley said he believes the apparent political payback involved in the scandal won't sit well with first-in-the-nation voters.\"I think it makes it very difficult for him to come up and be taken seriously by the average Joe out there working at a job and playing by the rules,\" Buckley said.But many Granite State Republicans gave Christie solid reviews for his direct approach in the news conference.\"As long as the factual developments of the story end here, I think he's done himself a favor by what he did today,\" Republican strategist Tom Rath said.Rath said New Hampshire is a state Christie needs to do well in if he runs, and he pointed out that voters in the state have forgiven scandal before on a much shorter timetable.\"Nine days after Gennifer Flowers said what she said, New Hampshire made Bill Clinton the comeback kid, so Chris Christie has got plenty of time,\" Rath said.12967056"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.wmur.com/article/christie-scandal-could-have-nh-impact/5187249>