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Gov. Chris Christie delivers a speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit, Saturday, January 12, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa.

(Matthew Holst)

Until now, Gov. Chris Christie's campaign for president has damaged New Jersey mostly through his neglect. He's been absent, and the state is a mess.

But it got worse last week. Because now he's moving to change a core education policy in New Jersey to appease base voters in Iowa.

This is way beyond neglect. It's something much worse. He is now using New Jersey children as a chit in his national game.

The flip-flop concerned Common Core, the national education standards intended to halt America's long slide in the global standings, and to ensure that a kid in New Jersey walks the same path as a kid in California.

Here's what Christie said about it in 2013:

"We are doing Common Core in New Jersey and we're going to continue. And this is one of those areas where I have agreed more with the President than not.

"I think part of the Republican opposition you see in some corners in Congress is a reaction...that if the president likes something the Republicans in Congress don't. If the Republicans in Congress like something, the president doesn't."

And here's what he said Tuesday in Iowa: "I have grave concerns about the way this has been done, especially the way the Obama administration has tried to implement it through tying federal funding to these things. And that changes the entire nature of it, from what was initially supposed to be voluntary type system and states could decide on their own to now having federal money tied to it in ways that really, really give me grave concerns.

"So we're in the midst of re-examination of it in New Jersey....It is something I'm very concerned about, because in the end education needs to be a local issue."

That statement had an immediate impact in Trenton, where a bill that would slam the brakes on this program faced a hearing in the Assembly Education Committee Thursday.

"So he was for this before he was against it, right?" said the committee chairman, Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex). "This will be an essential factor now."

An odd coalition has taken shape to oppose Common Core, or at least the testing that gives the standards their muscle, known as PARCC.

Hard-core conservatives don't like national standards on anything -- whether it's coal plants, or civil rights, or schools. And Christie is dancing for them now.

But hard-core liberals don't like it either. Those tests can be used to root out bad teachers, something the powerful New Jersey Education Association reflexively opposes. And the exhaustive testing regimen of PARCC has suburban parents riled up in pockets across the state.

"At Dunkin Donuts the guy behind the counter had my picture on his phone and said he did that to remind him to talk to me," Diegnan said after his hearing Thursday. "I'm in court and the judge says to me, 'Will you stop these PARCC tests?' It's everywhere I go."

I can't vouch for the quality of these tests. And I get the concern about testing overkill. Some districts have cancelled their home-grown exams to make room for the PARCC tests, a smart way to cope.

But there's no question that America needs national standards. Our kids rank near the bottom in math, compared to other advanced countries, and are only average in reading. Leaving each state to wander on its own is just nuts.

The governor should be out there making that case, not using this debate as a lever to score points in Des Moines. Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, has been steadfast in his support, despite the headwinds. Which man is acting more presidential?

Diegnan's committee on Thursday passed a bill that would ban the use of PARCC test results for three years. It would signal a retreat in the face of political heat.

Most of the parents who attended the hearing were overjoyed. Some said they didn't want their kids to feel like failures. Some said this was a corporate conspiracy to make money on testing. I almost expected some to bring up the dangers of the measles vaccine.

But one parent, Tanya King, was disappointed. She lives in Newark, and has sent four of her five kids through the public schools there.

She wants a test on tough national standards. She wants to know if her girl is struggling. She wants the bad teachers to be rooted out. She wants to know which schools are doing best before she makes her choice. She says the suburban moms are living in a different world than hers.

"Their education systems are above average," she said. "In Newark, we don't have the luxury in trusting our teachers and administrators to do the right thing because they have failed us for so long.

"That's where I think we differ. The testing shows where we are. I believe my child can ace anything. But it's important that when she graduates she can go out and compete with kids from the suburbs."

I'm with her, and Christie used to be, too. But the flip-flop in Iowa has breathed new life into the movement to delay or derail Common Core here.

I, for one, cannot imagine that Christie really believes the nonsense he spewed in Iowa. King doesn't believe it either.

"I think he was just saying what he needed to say for the presidential campaign," she said.

Give the woman an "A" in politics. She got this one just right.

Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find The Star-Ledger on Facebook.