On the final day of his re-election campaign, Gov. Chris Christie warned supporters on Monday not to take anything for a granted as he works to make history.
"We are Republicans in New Jersey,'' the GOP governor said while addressing energized supporters inside his packed Monmouth County headquarters. "You have to work and earn every vote you get in this state as a Republican. We're a minority party in this state.''
At the same time, Christie sought to downplay expectations for Tuesday's contest as polls suggest he has big leads over Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono.
Buono spent Monday night at a rally in working-class Union Township, a Democratic stronghold, where she urged fellow Democrats to vote.
She received a warm welcome from about 200 supporters, and afterward said the projected results of the election would be different if Democrats throughout the state were unified.
More than 50 elected Democrats have endorsed Christie. Buono spent the final days of the race campaigning without help from the party's biggest names.
Christie defined success for himself simply as earning at least 50 percent of the vote, noting that he would be the first New Jersey Republican to do so in a statewide election since George W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign.
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Earlier Monday, Buono said that Christie's presidential ambitions are getting in the way of what's best for New Jersey.
In an interview on MSNBC, Buono said that the governor is making decisions based on how voters will react in early presidential primary states. For example, the Democrat said Christie vetoed a ban on .50-caliber assault rifles after receiving a warning from "pro-gun New Hampshire.''
Christie said the ban went too far and would have restricted lawful recreation.
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez joined Christie on a daylong bus tour as he seeks a second term in what many consider a run-up to a presidential bid. With a big win, Christie is also trying to show a divided national Republican Party that it's possible to succeed by promoting compromise and bipartisanship.
"When he became governor of a blue state, it was amazing because we knew we could do it all over the country,'' Martinez said of Christie's first win.
