The Kentucky senator told Georgians they should elect Perdue because the Senate already has enough lawyers and not enough businessmen

Paul is a presumed 2016 presidential candidate; h e spoke to MailOnline after his appearance at a rally for Georgia Senate candidate David Perdue

Rand Paul told MailOnline that Christie was oversimplifying presidential politics; 'Jimmy Carter wasn't that great of a president,' he said

Christie said this week he's 'convinced that the next president of the United States is going to be a governor—and needs to be'

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul pushed back on Friday on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's claim earlier this week that the next President of the United States 'needs to be' a governor.

'Jimmy Carter wasn't that great of a president,' Paul, a likely 2016 presidential candidate, told MailOnline in an interview after his appearance this afternoon at a rally for Georgia Senate candidate David Perdue.

'I just...I'm not sure that's the best thing, such a simplistic sort of criteria...for what we do,' the first-term senator said.

Sen. Rand Paul speaks to an audience of supporters of Georgia Senate candidate David Perdue during a campaign stop at the McDonough Square this afternoon in McDonough, Georgia. Paul said Georgians should elect Perdue, a former CEO of Dollar General, because of his business background

In a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Christie said he is 'convinced that the next president of the United States is going to be a governor—and needs to be.'

The presumed 2016 presidential candidate added: 'We have had an experiment of a legislator who has never run anything getting on-the-job training in the White House. It has not been pretty. And so we need to have a big and broad bench of good, experienced Republican governors to select from in 2016.'

On Friday Paul told MailOnline that there have been good governors that went on to be good presidents. Furthermore, he said, there have been bad governors that have been good senators.

'I think we'll figure it out over time,' Paul said, 'but it's probably simplistic to think that one particular occupation makes one person better than the other.'

Carter, a Democrat, was the governor of Georgia for four years before he was elected to the presidency. He served just one term as as Commander in Chief before he was booted by voters.

The Peach State politician lost the 1980 presidential election to another governor: Ronald Reagan, who served served as chief executive of California for two full terms before seeking election to higher office.

Carter's presidency is often synonymous with inflation, recession and high unemployment. The U.S. also experienced an energy crisis during his tenure as oil output in the Middle East decreased during the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

That same year wrought the Iran hostage crisis - a 444-day stand off between radical Muslim, Iranian students and the U.S. during the country's revolution. The group held 52 Americans captive in Tehran until January 20, 1981, the day that Carter left office.

Relations between Iran and the U.S. have never been the same, and the incident led to the economic sanctions on the country.

With tensions running high over the ongoing hostage crisis, Republicans had a banner election year in 1980. Carter won just six states to Reagan's 44.

Reagan went on to easily win reelection in 1984. He was succeeded by his vice president, George H.W. Bush - a former Member of Congress who never served as governor of his home state, Texas. Bush was also defeated after only one term by Bill Clinton, then-governor of Arkansas.

Megachurch pastor Benny Tate, left, shakes hands with Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson, center, as Paul, center left, and Perdue, right, look on before today's get out the vote rally

Clinton was succeeded in office after two terms by George W. Bush, the then-governor of Texas. Bush was replaced after he reached his two term limit by current President Barack Obama, a former community organizer with a background in constitutional law who served in the Illinois state senate before representing his home state in U.S. Senate and launching a bid for the presidency.

Paul may have a nuanced view of what sort of politicians tend to be the best national leaders, but he made it clear at Friday's rally for Perdue that he thinks Americans who have experience working in the private sector make the best lawmakers.

'When I first ran for office people said, "You're just doctor from a small town. What business do you have running for office?" And I said, "You know what? Precisely my attributes and assets are that I have never held any office before," ' Paul told the crowd of people who had gathered to see him speak in the town square of McDonough, Georgia this afternoon.

The audience ate up Paul's remarks, clapping loudly, and making supportive comments throughout.

'I haven't been beaten down by the system, and I have a good job and skills, that I can go back to at any point in time I want, so I'm unafraid to do what's right, and I think David Perdue will be the same,' Paul continued.

'And besides, we've already tried a community organizer, and I'd rather have someone that knows how to create jobs rather than just how to spend the money,' he said, taking a jab at Obama.

Paul told the audience that the Senate has 'plenty of lawyers' but only a few businessmen.

'I think it would be great to have someone with some common sense, with some business sense to create jobs,' he said.

Perdue is a former Reebok CEO. He later served as CEO of Dollar General, where he says he created 20,000 jobs, before starting his own firm in 2011.

The wealthy businessman has taken flak from his main opponent in the race, Democrat Michelle Nunn, a non-profit head, for allegedly outsourcing of jobs while he served as the CEO of the a now-defunct textile manufacturing company Pillowtex Corp.

In a 2005 deposition obtained by Politico, Perdue said, 'I spent most of my career' outsourcing.

Confronted about the remarks by a reporter a few weeks ago, the Georgia Republican doubled down. 'I'm proud of it. This is a part of American business, part of any business,' he said.

'Outsourcing is the procurement of products and services to help your business run,' he added.

Nunn has used Perdue's position on outsourcing to undercut his business credentials.

'We need to ask what David's business career really equips him to do,' Nunn said Wednesday at campaign event, according to the Associated Press.

'Is it really to serve the people of Georgia?' she asked.

Perdue is in a close race to represent Georgia in the Senate with non-profit head Michelle Nunn. A CNN poll released today shows Nunn up by three points over Perdue

On Friday Paul appeared to subtly refer to the outsourcing controversy in his speech touting Perdue.

There's two trillion dollars overseas in business, he said. 'Why isn't it coming home? Because we've got the worst tax code in the world right now,' he posited.

'Until we take over the majority [in the Senate], we will never get a chance to fix the tax code,' he said.

'We have the highest corporate tax in the whole world right now. We are twice what Canada's tax rate is. I never thought I'd be on a stage saying that I'm envious of Canada's tax code,' he said to laughter from the audience.

'We have a regulatory burden of two trillion dollars a year, a tax burden of three trillion dollars a year, and we're not gonna improve it until we figure out one simple thing: You want Georgia to do better? You want Georgia to create jobs? You gotta leave more money in Georgia and send less money to Washington,' he said.

Paul told MailOnline in an interview after the event that he thinks the Senate 'could use a fresh perspective' from someone with business experience like Perdue.

'You know, currently we have a president who never ran a business, never really ever employed anybody, or really worked in the private sector. So I think he really, the current president, doesn't have as much of an understanding of how jobs are created,' he said. 'And I think someone from the business community probably has a better understanding of that.'

Perdue said in his stump speech Friday that he's running for the Senate because he 'got so fed up with what's coming out of Washington...and I want to do something about it.'

'Like Sen. Paul I'd never even thought about doing this. Never even thought about politics,' he said. It was not until he saw the way the president's policies were affecting his family, that he decided to seek elected office.

'Michelle Nunn wants to be Barack Obama's senator. I want to be your senator,' he told the audience.

Georgia has become a pivotal state in the fight for the Senate this election cycle. On Thursday President Obama told an Atlanta radio station that a Nunn win 'means that Democrats keep control of the Senate.'

A CNN/ORC International poll released today shows Nunn leading Perdue 47-44 with a three percent margin of error.