Gov. Christie’s video reel from the GOP debate

Gov. Chris Chris Christie was able to break through the field of 10 candidates during the first Republican presidential debate in Cleveland. Chris Christie mixed it up with two candidates and discussed both 9/11 and his accomplishments as governor.

Less Love, More Respect

The governor was able to tell the story of his family and the fact that he was appointed U.S. Attorney General for New Jersey on September 10, 2011 "and spent the next seven years of my career fighting terrorism and putting terrorists in jail." He also said President Obama's perceived weakness as a leader has led to bad choices "We’ve got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected,"

Entitlements - lying vs. breaking a promise.

Fox News' Chris Wallace pitted Christie and Huckabee against each other by asking Huckabee, a former governor, if one of the candidates was "lying" about Social Security entitlements. Huckabee says Christie's plan is "breaking a promise" made to the American people; Chirstie says the system is broken.

Fighting Terrorism

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul took Christie to task over his support of the NSA's collection of phone records. "I want to collect more records from terrorists, but less records from innocent Americans," said Paul, urging use of the fourth amendment which Christie called a "completely ridiculous answer. "Listen, Senator, you know, when you’re sitting in a subcommittee just blowing hot air about this, you can say things like that."

Defending the "Jersey Comeback"

Christie was asked about the state's economic problems to which he quipped, "If you think it's bad now, you should have seen it when I got there" and beat the bell by ticking off what he considered his accomplishments. The checklist included balancing the state budget with no tax increases, cutting over 800 programs and the creation of 192,000 private sector jobs.