Round 2: Christie vs. Malloy

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, left, huddles with state GOP Chairman Jerry Labriola Jr., far right, and the two Republican National Committee representatives for Connecticut, Pat Longo, second from left, and state Rep. John Frey, during the RNC summer meeting in Boston Thursday. Contributed photo.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, left, huddles with state GOP Chairman Jerry Labriola Jr., far right, and the two Republican National Committee representatives for Connecticut, Pat Longo, second from left, and state Rep. John Frey, during the RNC summer meeting in Boston Thursday. Contributed photo.

Connecticut Republicans are an entire year away from settling on a candidate to challenge Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

But that didn’t stop GOP brass from courting Malloy nemesis and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Thursday at the Republican National Committee’s summer meeting in Boston.

And they weren’t just mugging for photos for Facebook’s sake.

Christie signaled that he would be willing to stump for the eventual GOP nominee, reprising a role he played in 2010 when he campaigned for Republican Tom Foley against Malloy.

“I’m confident he will be helpful in our effort to elect a Republican governor,” state GOP Chairman Jerry Labrola Jr. told Hearst Connecticut Newspapers from Beantown.

Christie is up for re-election in the Garden State this year and is in the conversation for a presidential run in 2016.

“He committed to me that he will discuss this with me in more detail after the election,” Labriola said in response to a question about whether Christie will visit Connecticut.

In the words of state Democratic Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo, bring it on.

“Certainly if the Republicans want to talk about governors’ records, let’s compare Chris Christie’s to Governor Malloy’s,” DiNardo said. “Chris Christie has underfunded the state pension in New Jersey drastically, he’s eviscerated funding for municipalities so much so that local property taxes are up 20 percent. He does not make New Jersey an appealing place to live.”

There is no love lost between Christie and Malloy, who have showed their disdain for each other on the talk show circuit.

Neil Vigdor