Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday he won't allow speculation about him running for president to distract him from running New Jersey.
"I simply won't let it,'' Christie said the day after winning a second term.
The 51-year-old Republican, who beat his Democratic challenger by 22 percentage points in this Democratic-leaning state, took a victory lap Wednesday at a charter school in Union City, highlighting his growing support from Hispanics.
Christie, who demonstrated broad-based support Tuesday, won this predominantly Hispanic city in northern New Jersey by 2,000 votes. It was a far cry from 2009, when he lost here by more than 6,000 votes.
Statewide, Christie split the Hispanic vote with his Democratic rival, state Sen. Barbara Buono.
An exit poll conducted Tuesday for The Associated Press and television networks showed Christie with 50 percent of the Hispanic vote and Buono with 46 percent. The margin of error for the group of Hispanic voters responding to the survey was plus or minus 7 percentage points, meaning Christie's advantage was not large enough to say he won the Hispanic vote. Hispanic voters made up about 9 percent of the electorate Tuesday, the exit poll found.
The poll did show that Christie increased his share of the Hispanic vote by double digits from four years ago.
The blunt-talking governor courted Hispanics during his re-election campaign, a group whose support can bolster his appeal if he runs for president. He held an election-eve rally here and was endorsed by Mayor Brian Stack, a Democratic state senator who is one of the governor's most reliable allies.
Christie also nominated a Hispanic judge to the state Supreme Court.
After a brief classroom tour, the governor took questions that often revolved around his presidential aspirations.
He said the speculation about his political future is ``nothing but good for the people of New Jersey'' because it means they have a governor who's doing his job well.
"They wouldn't be speculating about someone who wasn't,'' he said.
He also said such speculation is nothing new.
"I've gone through this before,'' he said, referring to a months-long period starting in the summer of 2010 when a group of Republicans tried to persuade him to run for president.
He said at the time he wasn't ready for the job.
However, he refused to rule out the possibility at a gubernatorial debate last month.
On Wednesday, Christie stopped short of fully endorsing legislation that Latinos widely support. One bill would grant in-state tuition to children born outside the United States and brought to this country illegally as children. The other would fully restore a tax credit to the working poor, which Christie trimmed to help balance the state budget.
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Christie said he hopes to work out a deal on tuition equality with Democrats in the lame-duck session of the Legislature. But, he said, it has to be a fiscally responsible plan that takes ``the dreams of everybody'' into account. It's less likely he and the Democrats will reach a deal that restores the tax credit.
"If we're going to reduce taxes for anyone, we're going to reduce taxes for everyone,'' he said.
Democrats have been unwilling to approve a broad-based tax cut because of the state's fiscal condition.
