Christie Says 'No' to Presidential Run, Ridgewood Reacts

Governor Christie on Tuesday ended the speculation – he's not running for president. The governor said he has unfinished business to tend to on the homefront and he'll call Trenton home for the foreseeable future.

Those in Ridgewood on Tuesday were displeased they're 'stuck' with the brash governor for the immediate future but also clear that they were not in support of a presidential run.

At the Statehouse in Trenton, Christie said he believed he owed it to the people of New Jersey to continue as governor. "It's never felt right... to me in my gut to leave here when the job is not finished," he said. "New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me."

Jake Yilmaz, of Paterson, said from the he "absolutely" would not support a Christie GOP ticket. "I don't support him as governor, so I absolutely wouldn't support him as president," he said.

Ridgewood resident Ray Kelly said something seems amiss with how the will-he-run? speculation has played out in recent weeks. "If he's not running, why is he giving this so much attention?" Kelly asked. "I don't think he's being honest. He's raising a lot of money for his war chest. Something's up."

Although Kelly said Christie seemed "a good guy," he reported Christie's policies have directly hit him in the wallet and he's "not the biggest fan." Kelly said the governor's elimination of the Homestead Act snatched a few thousand dollars from his pocket.

Citing the , Kelly said hypocrisy is another factor weighing down his support of a presidential run. "It's OK to cut from the state budget, but he's happy to use it for his own benefit?" he asked.

Bergen County Freeholder Chairman John Driscoll Jr. heard the news Monday night at a fund-raiser. With the decision not to run behind him, Driscoll said the governor could continue concentrating on his home state.

"I think the focus whether it was last week, last month or today has been to get New Jersey moving forward," he said.

Christie can also focus on campaigning for Driscoll, who is running for Sen. Robert Gordon's District 38 seat, and the other Republican candidates for the legislature. Christie is scheduled to appear at a fund-raiser for Driscoll's campaign at  in Paramus on Oct. 18.

"He's been very supportive of Bergen County, and very supportive of our candidates up here," Driscoll said.

But Christie did not rule out a run for the presidency in the future, telling an NBC News reporter that "I'm not going to preclude any job whether president or working at NBC."

The governor had repeatedly said he would not join the GOP campaign, but reports continued to surface in recent weeks that he was re-considering, under pressure from numerous Republican leaders unhappy with the current list of candidates.

He said other candidates did not make a presidential run sound appealing, saying that those who had lost described the experience as "a nightmare," while those who won agreed that it was "awful."

The governor didn't resist an opportunity to take a swipe at President Obama, saying the president had "failed the leadership test." But he said it was too early for him to make any endorsement of any of the current GOP contenders.

The governor indicated he would not be interested in the GOP nomination for vice president, saying he did not see himself as a "Number Two kind of guy."