Christie Rallies Supporters in Toms River

By Nick Malfitano

Along with his wife Mary Pat and children Sarah, Patrick and Bridget, Governor Chris Christie greeted the lively crowd assembled at the Toms River High School South football field on Saturday evening, for his final rally before Election Day on Tuesday Nov. 5.

The governor was introduced by Toms River’s Mayor Tom Kelaher, who expressed his gratitude for Christie “doing everything he could to help local residents in their recovery” from Superstorm Sandy.

“On Victory Day (Tuesday), it will be a great day for the state of New Jersey. We’ll have him for the rest of his term”, said Kelaher in reference to Christie.

Christie stepped to the podium, recognizing his wife and children, and his Toms River constituents. Specifically, Christie called attention to the mentality which he felt defined the character of the Jersey Shore in the aftermath of Sandy.

“All of us showed the country what New Jersey was all about,” said Christie. “What they learned is not only are we tough and edgy, but compassionate with big hearts.”

The governor said shore residents put their neighbors’ needs ahead of their own, and praised what they have done for one another.

“It’s you who comes to me and says, Governor, what can we do,” said Christie. “You all have made me better than I was a year ago, and we can make New Jersey better if we all keep working together.”

Christie explained such focus on cooperation was one much needed in the nation’s capital.

“Both parties talk at each other and not with each other anymore,” said the governor. “Ocean County and the state of New Jersey will show the entire country that working together gets things done. If we can recover from the storm, we’ll recover from the dysfunction in Washington’s D.C.”

Christie said four years ago, he was happy to run against someone so different than himself, referring to former Governor Jon Corzine. Christie said he felt even better this time around since he was running in the gubernatorial election against state senator Barbara Buono.

“Barbara Buono saw 200 schools failing in New Jersey and thought that wasn’t a bad percentage,” said Christie. “She wasn’t someone sending her children to one of those failing schools.”

Railing against Buono’s record, Christie stated the senator voted for a 40 percent pay raise for herself and “had done nothing but be angry, yell and scream, but not put forward a positive idea in her entire 10-month campaign.”

Yet, Christie explained that he was not taking the election lightly.

“No election is won until Tuesday night at 8 o’clock,” the governor said. “We need to make sure that all the people who have supported what we’ve done over the last four years get to the polls and vote.”

Before departing for the evening with his family on his campaign bus, Christie shared a humorous anecdote from a recent visit he made to a senior center in West Orange, New Jersey. Christie met an 82 year-old woman there named Gladys, who explained she had prayed for the governor every night since Superstorm Sandy hit and especially since the large fire which devastated the boardwalk in Seaside Heights in mid-September.

“I saw you standing behind the microphones at that awful (Seaside Heights) fire, and I was very worried about you,” Christie remembered Gladys saying.

The governor recalled Gladys telling him she offered up a special prayer after seeing Christie so exhausted.

“Lord, please give our governor strength, because I don’t know how much more s**t this boy can take,” Christie told the audience, to a combination of laughter and applause.

Christie joked that Mary Pat had cautioned him about publicly sharing that story due to the language involved, so he provided the parents in the audience with advance warning. Still, the governor appreciated the humor behind Gladys’s remarks.

Christie brought things full circle by thanking the audience for giving him what he called “the greatest privilege he ever had in his life”, to be the governor of the state he grew up in; something he called “an extraordinary honor.”

“I have a chance every day to do something extraordinary, and you’ve all given me that chance. Just give it to me one more time,” said Christie. “We’ve got four days to go for four more years. Let’s all get the job done!” said the governor.