Christie, others hit final stretch in New Hampshire

[...] it's the nation's first primary and the next in a series of clues into what Americans want in their next president.

Republican hopeful Marco Rubio is downplaying his rough outing in Saturday night's GOP debate, while touting his overall campaign momentum after his third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, hoping to use that momentum to boost his chances in Tuesday's contest.

Donald Trump, who finished second in Iowa, is pleased with his debate performance and place atop New Hampshire's GOP polls, and he's doubling down on his call for the U.S. to reinstitute waterboarding and even harsher treatment of foreign prisoners.

Christie, fresh from a vigorous debate performance in which he battered Rubio, a first-term senator, as unprepared for the presidency, told a town hall crowd Sunday in Hampton, New Hampshire, that his exchanges with Rubio showed who's ready.

The three governors have pitched their experience to GOP voters for months, but have struggled to keep Rubio from establishing himself as the alternative to Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who won Iowa.

Rubio was rattled by Christie's debate onslaught Saturday, repeating his standard critique of President Barack Obama several times and playing into Christie's argument that the first-term senator is a scripted, inexperienced politician from a do-nothing Congress.

The practice, accepted as torture internationally and now forbidden by U.S. law, is "peanuts" compared to what Islamic State group members practice, Trump said.

Cruz is not expected to fare as well in New Hampshire as in Iowa, but he made memorable marks in Saturday's debate, first repeating his apology to Carson for the false rumors and later offering an emotional account of his half-sister's drug addiction and eventual death.