President Obama hosted New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at the White House Thursday morning in an unannounced visit that comes as the administration is preparing a major emergency spending request to cover damage from Hurricane Sandy. News reports have said the request would be $50 billion, and Mr. Christie reportedly wants tens of billions of dollars more. White House spokesman Jay Carney declined to talk about specifics from the meeting or to say how much Mr. Obama will request. "The president is very focused on assisting New Jersey and New York and other affected states in their recovery efforts," he...