Possible 2016 president ial candidate whos speaking at this years conservative Political Action conference was former hewlettpackard ceo carly fiorina. Her remarks are about 20 [ cheers and applause ] hello. Hi, everybody. Wow. This is in the round here. This is like vegas. I love it. It is great to see everybody. Governor, thank you for spending some time. Thanks, laura. Were really close here. We are. I was thinking about this when i was asked to do this today. Its been about 2 1 2 years, governor, since you graced my radio show and youre not exactly a regular on the talk radio circuit. What gives . Are we the ugly stepchildren of the media . No, laura. I have my own radio show. So i dont want to help the competition. I do my own radio. But you know well see how this goes today. Maybe well come back more. Oh, gee, thanks. Instant feedback. Okay. Got it. Look, this has been a rough couple months for you in the media. We have read articles about how you came in as a reformer and now some of these reforms havent panned out. I think gale collins whos a liberal columnist, she just savaged you today. And said that youre toast, your campaigns over. Youre not a reformer. How do you survive in onslaught day in and day out . Listen, laura the elite folks from the media who cover me every day i mean, understand where i come from every day. Im in new jersey. I have the New York Times in my media gaggle every day. And when you do things like ive done in new jersey to take on a lot of special interests frontally, they support they just want to kill you. Thats what they try to do to me every day. Heres the bad news for them. Here i am. Im still standing. Im going to continue to do it because what matters more is the fact that i wake up every morning knowing how to fight for the people of my state. And thats what i do. I dont care what they write about me in the New York Times. They can keep it. I dont subscribe, by the way. [ applause ] common cores a huge issue for conservatives. Everyone in this audience knows what the struggle is. In 2010 you actually signed the application for the race to the top funds and signed on to common core even though states like virginia right nearby, virginia did a virginia standard, didnt do the federal standard. So what gives with the common core thing . I know you have some now hesitations but why did you sign it . The hesitations i have now because in new jersey weve always been for standards and for high standards. And we had those beforehand. But my concern now as weve begun to try to do implementation, its not only the heavy foot of the federal government thats coming in but its not doing what we need to have done in new jersey. We need to have local control, parents, teachers in those classrooms. Theyre the ones who should be helping us at the state level set the standards. So that was all teed up when i came in by governor corzine. We signed on to try to get funds during a really difficult fiscal time. But as weve now tried to regrets . Sure. Of course. And now its not political regrets . These are regrets . Well, this is implementation regrets. I mean this is like unlike other people who just get to talk about this stuff we actually have to do it. And once you start to do it, what ive seen is the concerns that i have are significant and i set a commission up that is now coming back to me with recommendations. But my charge to them is weve got to keep government at the local level, education most importantly has to be parents involved. There has to be teachers involved. That hasnt been part of this process. And it needs to be part of this process and will be as we move forward in new jersey. All right. Now, scott walkers making a strong pitch to social conservatives. Obviously Mike Huckabee and others as well, ted cruz. And when you think of someone like scott walker back in the fall he was a little bit softer on the issue of abortion. I think he did a 30second commercial where he said im pro life but ultimately i sign legislation that leaves the decision between a woman and her doctor. Now hes pivoted a little bit back to the right. Hes pro life, but hes nuanced the language a bit. Where does social conservatism and Chris Christie live together . How do you compete with walker and all these strong conservatives . I ran as a pro life candidate in 2009 unapologetically, spoke at the prolife rally on the steps of the state house. The first governor tfr speak at a prolife rally on the steps of the state house in new jersey and vetoed planned parenthood funding five times out of the new jersey budget. Yeah. [ cheers and applause ] and i have always thought, laura, that what the people really have a right to know is what you really believe and feel in your heart. People make certain assumptions because youre from new jersey and because youre a republican from new jersey and what they should do is look at any record. When you look at my record on those issues, it has been strong and resolute. By the way, dont dont believe what the media will tell with you about the fact that if youre a pro life candidate you cant get elected. Not only did i get elected for the first time in 2009 but got elected with 61 of the vote and reelected in 2013 as a straight out unabashed prolife candidate. What they care about is whats in your heart. And are you willing to fight for them . Here are some of the words used to describe you. Here we go. Wait. Is beautiful the first one . Tell the truth. Supermodel. Yes. Explosive. Shorttempered. Hothead. G impatient. And thats just what your friends are saying. That temperament, the presidency heres the word they miss. The word they miss is passionate. Im the son of [ cheers and applause ] im the son of a sicilian mother and an irish father. Whoo. Yeah. Which means in my household i got to learn about dispute resolution really early. The fact is that what my parents taught me was that if you really care about something then you need to go all in. This is not about half measures. There are no half measures in the christie household growing sxwup theres none now. I care about fighting for the people that i represent. I care about fighting the fights that are worth fighting. And yeah, im going to be passionate about. Im going to speak my mind. And im going to be direct. I do not have Political Consultants whispering in my ear saying heres the way you say it so everybody sounds like Charlie Browns teacher. Ra, ra, ra, ra no. Youre going to hear it from me directly and bluntly because i care. If i didnt care i wouldnt do this. But sit down and shut up . Yeah, well, sometimes people need to be told to sit down and shut up. [ applause ] and you know im sitting down, by the way. Yeah. And you know quite frankly, laura, some more of that stuff should be happening in washington, d. C. Because theres so much ridiculous stuff being spewed, especially out of the white house. Someone should say its time to shut up. [ applause ] the Teachers Unions. You and the Teachers Unions. Its been a rocky relationship. To say the least. Yeah. You had an Adverse Court Ruling the other day in the state about how you decided not to fully fund the teachers pension after you agreed to do so. That wasnt a great ruling. I know youre appealing. But how are you bringing people together in the state . You have such a constant adversarial relationship within that educational arena. What do people take from that experience into possibly a national footing . Well, first of all, lets talk quickly about the court ruling. You know once again, liberal judges getting themselves inserted into the decisions that are supposed to be made by the elected officials. And those decisions are made by me and by the legislature, which is controlled by democrats. But more importantly, listen, the Teachers Union and i have not had the warmest relationship. I went after them very early on because i want to reform education in our state. Now, when you are tough like that, thats when you finally get in a position to be able to negotiate and bring people together. You dont do it from a position of weakness. You do it from a position of strength. They understand what my positions are. I believe teacher tenure needs to be reformed, and we reformed it in new jersey. I believe we need to have more choice in schools. We have a School Choice program and a Charter School program in new jersey. The fact is that thats not popular with the Teachers Union. But now when it comes time to try to really resolve a problem that all 40 states have on pensions ive brought the Teachers Union to the table and were negotiating together, have an initial road map agreement that is going to help to save the Pension System in new jersey. You have a shortfall here, though, in the budget. How are you going to make that up now . Listen we dont have one. The judge hasnt ordered us to do that. The fact is that what well do is do what ive done before, laura. Were spending 2. 3 billion less in Discretionary Spending today than we spent in fiscal year 2008. We have 8,500 fewer employees than the day i walked in as governor in 2010. Thats being fiscally responsible and well cut spending if we have to. The last gallup poll, governor, only 7 of americans think we should have increased levels of americans. 7 . Following on that, jeb bush has recently said that immigrants are more entrepreneurial, harder working and more fertile than others. He even suggested, governor, that detroit should be repopulated with Foreign Workers, immigrant workers to spur the economy in detroit. At a time where we have so many people unemployed, tens of millions of americans out of the workforce, what is governor christie in a national setting, lets say you decide to run for president , what are you doing on these issues . There seems to be a disconnect with the people, governor, and the pols on immigration, a big one. First of all, thats redirecting the priorities that statement. What i would be concerned about are the people who are in detroit right now. The hardworking people who stuck with detroit and whove stayed there. We want to create Economic Opportunity for them. We want to create a better educational system so the children have a better future. And so thats misdirecting i think first of all the goal here. Jeb bush says theyre more entrepreneurial, harderworking, and more fertile than americans. First of all, im not mentioning the fertility thing. I dont think thats where we should be heading with this. The fact of the matter is the most entrepreneurial people in the world are the people of the United States and thats why folks want to come here. Because thats a system weve set up and what weve created. And what we need to get back to in this country is creating an economic atmosphere where people want to come here and come here legally and create a great life because the people who are already here are doing that for themselves and their families. So my focus on detroit would be to say how do we make that city for the people who are there, how do we make it better for them from an economic perspective, how do we make it better from an educational perspective, so that more people want to come to detroit because theres great opportunity and not for other reasons. I think whats happened, though, you have 58 million americans now of working age who are basically operating outside of the workforce. Its a stunning number of people. 62 Labor Participation rate. Abysmal. Its embarrassing for our country. And yet there is an unending hunger for Foreign Workers coming into this table, mostly pushed by big business. And again the disconnect between what American People need and what politicians in both parties this is a bipartisan deal here, want. How do you get the middle class hardworking american in i dont know, columbus to look at the democrats and republicans and say they represent me . What they need to look at is more than just democrats and republicans. They have to look at what the person is saying. And what theyve done in their career. And in my career ive always tried to put the hardworking people in my state first. We vetoed five different income tax increases that the democrats passed and put on my desk because we care about Hardworking Taxpayers first. Weve given Parents Choice in education because we care about the people who are paying the bills and working hard. The focus unfortunately with a lot of people in politics right now is what they say on the editorial page of the New York Times and the washington post. And what we should be concerned about is what were hearing like what i heard when i traveled to 37 states last year. They want opportunities for great careers and themselves and their children. And were not talking about that. And wed better Start Talking about it because these folks the hardworking middle class in this country are the backbone of our society and thats what we have to be focused on. 5 is what you got in the recent Public Policy poll that came out a few days ago. Chris christie a year ago was kind of one of the frontrunners. Now youre down near the bottom. Jeb bush, Scott Walker Ben Carson ahead of you. Thats pretty low. Youre low in a bunch of polls. How do you overcome that deficit . Its a pretty big deficit. Is the election next week . I dont know. Laura, let me tell you this. In 2009 when no republican had been elected in new jersey in 12 years, now when theres been 42 years since we sent a republican to the u. S. Senate in new jersey everybody said theres no way Chris Christie could win in 2009. And then they said, well, he won, but it was because the other guy was bad, not he was good. And in 2013 well kick him out. I got 61 of the vote. 51 of the hiss payne vote. 22 of the africanamerican vote. And 54 of votes from women. Now, if i decide to run for president , im not worried about what polls say 21 months before were going to elect the president of the United States. If i decide to run let me tell you one thing. I will run a hard fighting campaign where i will fight for the Hardworking Taxpayers of this country. And ill take my chances on me. Ive done pretty well so far. [ cheers and applause ] so i will say one thing. I kind of remember in february 2007 it was going to be Rudy Giuliani against Hillary Clinton. Thats what the polls said then. So i feel pretty good. But governor you do have the jeb bush fundraising machine. I know it. Ive seen it in operation. Its formidable. You have the jeb bush family pedigree which is formidable. It carries some baggage. But thats a formidable thing to overcome. You discussed how you well talk about the record of you and scott walker. But just on bush i mean, a lot of the fancy Political Consultants and media types covering this today, they basically think this is jeb bushs race to lowsse. If the relates in washington who decide whos going to be president make back room deals hes the frontrunner. If the people of the United States decide to pick the next president of the United States and they want someone who looks them in the eye, connects with them sxws one of them ill do okay if i run. Theres a sense [ applause ] you get the sense in the country, and one of the tweets that came in my facebook questions on my show today i asked people to ask questions of you. One of the points was uhoh. We seem like were we cant get ahead. We work and we work and we work. Two jobs. Yet we cant get ahead. We cant save money for a rainy day. And yet politicians are always fighting with each other about things that dont really matter with us, that dont really affect our lives. And more people seem to tune out politics, governor than ever before today. The credibility of both parties is in the toilet and they dont believe you when you say one thing because two months later youll do something different. How would a Chris Christie with your experience in new jersey its been difficult at times. How would you try to break that logjam of distrust in the country today where people are saying i dont like the twoparty system anymore . Listen, i wake up every morning with a democratic legislature. I wake up every morning knowing im not going to get everything i want. But what you need to do is stand firmly and tell people what you believe. The reason why the New York Times continues to write awful things about me is because every time i read something they disagree with i dont change my mind. Stick with where ive been. So when youre month life in 2009 you dont cut a commercial four years later because the New York Times doesnt like it and say youre less than that. When i say im not going to sign a tax increase under any circumstances of our income tax in our state because its one of the highest just because they write bad things about you you dont change your mind. Once you do that, just like Ronald Reagan did, when you stand up firmly for your principles, then youre in position to negotiate and break that logjam. Ive done that in new jersey with a democratic legislature. So if i decided to do Something Else with a little bit more difficult group in washington, d. C. , you know you have to they have to know youre willing to fight but also that youre willing to talk. Im willing to do both and ive shown that in new jersey and thats the way weve done it. But its all in the end about standing up for what you believe in. And thats why you get some of those comments he made about me before. You know, that hes loud and hes brash and all the rest of those things. Well, sometime