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“The president’s campaign, if you will, focused on giving targeted groups a big gift,” Romney said in a phone call his donors. He cited immigration proposals aimed at Hispanics and free contraception coverage that appealed to young women. “He made a big effort on small things.”

Outspoken New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie, who provided the Obama campaign with a late spark with compliments over his handling of the Hurricane Sandy crisis, also lashed out at Romney’s “divisive” comments.

“And I always hate this kind of scapegoating after elections. I mean, when you lose, you lost. Someone asked me the other day, ‘Why did Mitt Romney lose?’ Because he got less votes than Barack Obama. That’s why,” Christie told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Friday. “More people in the country decided the president was the right way to go, I voted for Mitt Romney, but the bottom line is: we lost.

“You can’t expect to be a leader of all the people and be divisive, OK? You have to talk about themes, policies that unite people. And play to their aspirations and their goals and their hopes for their family and their neighbours.”

Christie said Romney was a friend and he understands “he’s very disappointed.”

“I’m sure it stings terribly,” Christie said of the loss. “He’s a good man . . . do I wish he hasn’t said those things? Of course not, but I am not going to bury the guy for it.”

Jindal said it was time for Republicans to move on.

“We need to acknowledge the fact that we got beat,” Jindal told the Associated Press. “We clearly got beat and we need to recognize that.”