N.J. Gov. Christie endorses Brooks in Fifth District race

FISHERS, Ind. (WISH) - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was in Fishers today campaigning for congressional candidate Susan Brooks.

The visit came on the same day that campaign finance reports show Brooks and David McIntosh pulling away from a crowded field in the money race.

Christie is a former federal prosecutor, and so is Brooks. It's the basis of a relationship that prompted this endorsement, and if Brooks is to win election she will have to defeat McIntosh, a former Congressman turned lobbyist.

"You're not going to change Congress by sending a K Street lobbyist back to Congress," said Christie, in an obvious reference to McIntosh.

McIntosh stands out in a seven-candidate Primary race because he is the leading fundraiser. Reports due at midnight Sunday and made public today show McIntosh with more than $309,000 dollars in the bank. Brooks has $328,000 in the bank, and that explains why she has her sites set on McIntosh.

"He just happens to be the one that has not lived here," Brooks said, "and has not been here for a long time and who has been a Washington insider."

Christie echoed that.

"What I'm saying is that he's not the best choice in this race," Christie said. "And the fact is if you want to change Washington, you don't send the same people back there who've been a part of the problem in Congress all along."

Of the other candidates in the Fifth District Republican primary, John McGoff has just $90,000 in the bank, and Wayne Seybold $31,000. The fact that the Christie visit raised $100,000 or more for Brooks could help make them underdogs. Endorsements don't always help much, but Christie is the most popular Republican governor in the country.

But David McIntosh is getting big name help, too. Actor and former presidential candidate Fred Thompson will be in Indiana for a McIntosh fundraiser next week.