Chris Christie believes if Mitt Romney could re-do his recent recent birth certificate joke, he’d take it back.

Romney made a reference to the “birther” debate — the movement that questions President Obama’s citizenship — on Friday in Michigan, when he told a crowd at his birthplace, “no one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate.”

“I think if he had to do it over again, he wouldn’t make the joke,’’ Christie told Matt Lauer on Today Tuesday. “But you know what, when you’re on camera 12, 14 hours a day, and you’re at a big rallies and you’re just going off the cuff, there are going to be times you’re going to say stuff you wish you could take back. If you get a chance to talk to Governor Romney, I think he’d tell you that he wishes he could take that one back.’’

Christie, speaking to Lauer in advance of his keynote address from the Republican National Convention floor in Tampa, also denied a report in The New York Post on Monday that he does not believe Romney can win the election. The report suggested that the New Jersey governor avoided what he thought was a losing campaign that might tarnish his own bid for the presidency in 2016.

“It’s just complete garbage,’’ Christie said. “The two reporters that wrote the story know me and have my phone number and neither of them ever called me to ask me about the story, to verify or debunk it. They just wanted to put something on the front page on the day (the convention) was cancelled. So I’m telling you categorically, absolutely untrue.

“I’ve been working hard for Mitt Romney for nearly a year, traveling to 15 states across the country. I absolutely believe he can win and will win.’’

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