A punch to the left and a slide to the right...

Christie: Jeb isn't prepared for the White House

By Daniel Strauss

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie lobbed his most direct attack yet at former Florida governor Jeb Bush on Wednesday.

"So, you know, being prepared for the White House? He’s not. He’s just not. Not by dint of his service in Florida. So Jeb can say whatever he wants to say," Christie said in an interview with MSNBC during a stop in Rochester, New Hampshire.

The comments come as Christie enjoys a surge in New Hampshire with a number of polls posing a challenge to Bush, who is a chief competitor to Christie among establishment Republicans in the primary.

Christie, in the same interview, added that Bush had it easy during his time as governor.

"Jeb had a Republican legislature his entire time in Florida. He had a free ride. And he had a free ride during some of the greatest economic times this country has ever seen in the late 90’s and early 2000s,” Christie continued. "But he wouldn’t know the first thing to do if he was in New Jersey for a week and dealt with a Democratic legislature, hostile interest groups, huge unions – he didn’t have to deal with any of that in Florida.”

David Kochel, an Iowa-based strategist for Bush, punched back later on Wednesday.

"I think as we've seen over the course of several political cycles Florida is the most diverse purple state in the country and if you can successfully govern Florida, you can successfully governor the country," Kochel told POLITICO, adding that Christie is "just wrong."

"And when you compare the records it's pretty clear who had a successful governor ship, and it was Jeb Bush," Kochel said. "By the way, one of the reasons Florida has a Republican legislature and continues to have a Republican legislature is because Governor Bush was incredibly successful at building the Republican Party in his state, something Chris Christie hasn't demonstrated."

Bush too has begun taking shots at Christie. On Dec. 22, the former Florida governor told The Huffington Post he had a "record of accomplishment" in Florida in contrast to Christie who's presided over a state that "had credit downgrades."

"New Jersey hasn't done well," Bush said.