Christie to Test Presidential Waters in South Carolina

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, drew praise in his home state for physically embracing President Barack Obama after superstorm Sandy slammed into the Jersey Shore days before the 2012 election. In South Carolina, some felt differently.

"I certainly wasn't very happy with it. I knew what it meant. I knew what it did," said Katon Dawson, a former GOP state chairman in South Carolina and political consultant who supports Mr. Christie's rival, Texas GOP Gov. Rick Perry, in the run-up to the 2016 presidential campaign. "It played well...