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His brash, tell-it-like-it-is style also made him a YouTube hit and a campaign trail favorite. Besides those attributes, candidates also know that where Christie goes, cameras follow. The media scrum that arrived for his announcement Tuesday was so large that the line to get into his office stretched outside the front doors of the Statehouse and some were turned away because there was no room left. On-air personalities from "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" were among the throng. The last time that many media members packed into the New Jersey governor's office was for then-Gov. Jim McGreevey's "I'm a gay American" speech. A charismatic speaker, Christie has spent the last two election cycles campaigning for Republicans around the country, including Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who won a close race against incumbent Ted Strickland, and Meg Whitman, who lost the California governor's race. He has also spent time working donors, many of whom were so enamored they publicly encouraged him to run for the White House. Whitman, the new CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co., is among those with deep pockets and an affection for Christie, whom she hosted at her home last week for a fundraiser. Billionaire oil tycoons Charles and David Koch invited Christie to give the keynote speech at their annual invitation-only retreat in Colorado in June. A month before, energy company executive Bruce Rastetter traveled to New Jersey to try to persuade him to run because he had been impressed by Christie at a fundraiser for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad's campaign. Rastetter was Branstad's top fundraiser in 2010. The Home Depot co-founder and billionaire Ken Langone also tried to get Christie to run. Hours after Christie said he was out for 2012, Langone announced he was backing Mitt Romney.
[Associated
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