Christie a hot commodity among Republican candidates

Among the Republican gubernatorial candidates who have sought Christie's counsel, Drewniak said, are Tom Corbett in Pennsylvania, Meg Whitman in California, Bill Brady in Illinois, Chris Dudley in Oregon, Robert Ehrlich in Maryland, and Charlie Baker in Massachusetts. John Robitaille, a Republican candidate for governor in Rhode Island, named Christie his dream endorsement.

Closer to home, Christie was set to host a fund-raiser Friday night for Jon Runyan, a South Jersey Republican who is seeking to replace freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler. Admission to the fund-raiser was $500, and the price of taking a picture with the governor was $2,400. Christie went to Runyan's headquarters on primary night and will stump for the former Eagles offensive lineman in Ocean County during Labor Day weekend.

Chris Russell, a spokesman for the Runyan campaign, said Christie, a dynamic speaker, was a tremendous asset to the campaign.

"We couldn't have a better person to have Jon stand next to," Russell said. "The governor is tremendous."

When asked by Jake Tapper on ABC's This Week what lesson others should learn from his victory in November, Christie said Republicans needed to get back to the Republican brand - "less government, lower taxes, less spending, and commonsense regulation that grows private-sector jobs."

"I think if my win tells anything," he said, it is that "if we get back to the basics as Republicans, then we speak to some of the concerns people have in New Jersey and across the country."

Contact staff writer Adrienne Lu at 609-989-8990 or alu@phillynews.com.