Republican Chris Christie re-elected as governor of New Jersey In a forthright acceptance speech, Mr Christie pressed his credentials as a problem solver who had worked with Democrats, contrasting his approach with the partisan gridlock in Washington that caused a government shutdown last month. "If we can do this in Trenton, New Jersey [the state capital] maybe the folks in Washington DC should tune in their TV's right now and see how it's done," he rasped, raising huge cheers from a crowd of 2,000 supporters on the Jersey Shore. Mr Christie, flanked by his wife Mary Pat and four children, also dwelled emotionally on the rescue efforts of Hurricane Sandy, which brought him to national prominence last year, but angered partisans in his own party after he publicly praised Barack Obama for his response. "My pledge to you tonight is that I will govern with the "spirit of Sandy,"" he said, recalling the bipartisan team work that the storm had engendered and holding up as a model for a nation in need of problem-solving. "I know that tonight if dispirited America - angry with their dysfunctional government in Washington, looks to New Jersey to say, "Is what I think happening, really happening?" Are people coming together? Are we really working African-American and Hispanics, suburbanites and city dwellers, farmers and teachers. Are we really all working together? Let me give the answer to everyone watching tonight. Under this government, our first job is to get the job done. The speech came at the end of a campaign that climaxed with a seven-day bus tour around the state that quickly took on the air of a victory parade as polls showed Mr Christie an average of 25 points ahead in the polls - a huge advance on the 3.6 per cent margin of victory in 2009. As he toured New Jersey's diners and meeting halls, Mr Christie - who is disparaged as a "moderate" by large sections of the Right wing of his party - joked how Democrats had been quietly confessing that they had planned to vote for him, not their party's own candidate. Throughout the brief campaign Mr Christie showcased the skills as a "retail politician" that the Republican establishment hopes will make him a potent national force in 2016. He posed easily for pictures, signed posters, traded quick-fire one-liners with supporters and even speaking spontaneously on the phone with their family and friends. In one diner stop, in Nutley, New Jersey, Mr Christie took the handset from a supporter who said her mother wanted to ask him a question. "Hey Pat, it's the Governor, what can I do for you?" said Mr Christie, before joshing with her in his thick New Jersey tones, "You're my number one fan? Then why aren't you at the diner then? The conversation closed with the caller asking for a Christie for Governor sign for her garden. You need a yard sign? Wait, I'm gonna pass the phone over to a friend of mine here, and he's gonna get you a yard sign delivered today. You betcha! It was the kind of easy-going performance that has endeared Mr Christie to his state, mixing companionable nature with his reputation for confronting opponents, at one point having a feisty exchange with a teacher who accused him of neglecting school funding. Nationally, Mr Christie's profile was boosted last year when Hurricane Sandy smashed into the Jersey shore days before the General Election, however his decision to openly praise Barack Obama's assistance so close to polling day cost him credibility among partisans in his own party. With thoughts already turning to how Mr Christie might win his party's nomination in the face of opposition from Tea Party elements, he was still defending his handling of Sandy and accusations from the right that he was a "moderate." "President Obama came in, he did a good job, I said nice things about him, so all the sudden I'm a moderate," Mr Christie told Politico, "I've governed conservatively. I don't spend a lot of time worrying about that at the moment...[but] that's the way that goes.