New Jersey governor Chris Christie sought on Thursday to dampen growing expectations about a presidential campaign, warning that fevered speculation over national elections in 2016 risked hurting Republican chances in the 2014 mid-terms.  Speaking as he assumed chairmanship of the politically influential Republican Governor's Association, at its annual conference in Arizona, Christie also tempered his message on national political issues. He has been increasingly vocal and combative since his landslide re-election two weeks ago.  The search for potential presidential nominees has dominated this year's RGA conference and chairmanship of the body has in the past provided a useful springboard to meetings with potential donors. But the New Jersey governor appears to have recognised that it is time to project a more collegiate face, if he wants to avoid alienating the party's base before he even gets to a primary race.  “We have 36 [gubernatorial] races and 20 incumbent governors standing in 2014 and anyone of us in our individual capacity or as leaders of this organisation start thinking about 2016 at our own peril and worse, at the peril of our colleagues,” he told reporters. “My focus is going to be on raising funds to get their stories out. 2016 is a long way away and I am two weeks out of a campaign. I am not looking to start speculating about other campaigns already.”  Christie's national prominence has irritated some at the conference in Scottsdale, where attempts to contrast the relative success of state governors with dysfunction in Washington have been overshadowed by jockeying for the White House. “They all think they are important and they hate to see someone stealing all the limelight,” said one party official, in private.  Christie teased a reporter who asked him whether governors made good presidents, joking: “I am stunned that we have gotten that question right out of the box. We are ill-prepared. I will try my best to deal with it.”  Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, who has also made no secret of his presidential ambitions, was similarly dismissive as he stood down as RGA chairman. “People want to focus on 2016, but there are a lot of elections we need to focus on first in 2014,” he said.  But CNN reported on Thursday that Christie and Jindal fought an at-time acrimonious battle to decide which of them would run the governors' association during this crucial preparatory year – a personal rivalry driven in large part by their competing presidential considerations.  The RGA raises money on a national stage and gives governors a chance to meet potential backers for their own race in a way not available to rivals in Congress. Growing competition with potential Republican rivals in Washington is already apparent in the behaviour of Christie and Jindal, who spent much of the conference arguing that governors had much more practical experience than Senate-based rivals such as Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.  “What you have seen over the last two days is the incredible contrast between what you see being discussed here and accomplished as opposed to what you see going on in Washington DC,” said Christie. “What I've heard from governors and what we've accomplished … is going to be a strong and compelling message for people across the country.”  But the New Jersey governor shied away from expressing his normally forthright opinions on national political issues which might alienate Republican voters in a primary election, refusing to say, for example, whether he now backed immigration reform.  "How it needs to be fixed will be determined by the national leaders. What that solution contains is going to be up to them to determine," he said, during tetchy exchanges with a reporter asking for a yes or no answer. "I don't have to answer the question you want me to."
New Jersey governor insists focus should be on 2014 midterms but CNN reports his jockeying with Bobby Jindal