Christie woos voters in N.H.

NEWMARKET, N.H. - Thronged by reporters outside a pizza shop Tuesday, Gov. Christie dismissed negative polls as "temporary snapshots," projecting confidence he could change the minds of voters averse to a Christie candidacy.

"I'm going to talk about difficult issues, and I'm going to tell them exactly what I think," Christie said of his return to New Hampshire, which hosts the first presidential primary. "If they walk away with that impression, then it will be time well spent."

That message seemed to connect with some of the voters Christie met on the first of several days he will spend in New Hampshire this week, a high-stakes visit at a time when his 2016 hopes have been perceived as weakened.

"No B.S. I like that," said Walter McGuire of Newmarket, who waited in a pub with his wife, Sheila, to meet Christie.

Like many voters, McGuire, who votes Republican, said he needed to learn more about Christie. "We don't know a whole lot about his politics in terms of foreign affairs," McGuire said. But for him, Christie struck the right tone in an abbreviated stump speech criticizing President Obama's leadership and painting America's standing in the world as diminished.

"He said all the right words - ISIS, Putin," McGuire said. "We're a disaster right now."

Foreign policy also was on the mind of Brian Grodman, a financial planner from Manchester, who went to Caesario's Pizza to ask Christie what he considered the greatest threats to America. Christie cited debt and poor financial management as the biggest domestic threats, and Iran abroad.

"Right on point," Grodman said.

"He did a great job engaging with people," Grodman said. "But I don't know of any politicians who don't do a great job engaging with people."

As Christie circled the restaurant with wife Mary Pat, he shook hands with patrons, spoke at length with an advocate from a pro-Social Security group on the entitlement reform plan he announced Tuesday, and courted the pro-Red Sox vote.

"Any anti-Yankees guy's a guy for me," said the governor, a Mets fan.

Christie told reporters that he would decide on a presidential run by early summer. He denied that his decision had been delayed by an ongoing federal investigation into the George Washington Bridge scandal.

Inside the pub, he listened to Heather Durant, who told Christie that she and her husband, who run a small flooring business, were struggling because of their tax bracket.

"He agreed that was a real concern," Durant said. A supporter of Obama in both of the last elections, Durant said she had not made up her mind on 2016, though she said she liked Christie.

"I think he has shown real leadership, and he doesn't cut any corners," she said.

Bill Davis, a business owner from Hopkinton who came to hear Christie's speech on entitlements, said Christie was "much better than the press gives him credit for in New Hampshire."

"We seem to hear more negatives about him than positives," he said. It's far too early to size up the 2016 race, Davis said, but "I hope to hear him again."