Away from New Jersey, Christie not missed

Jennifer Huebner, 45, a Democrat from Collingswood, is no fan of Gov. Christie's.

But the fact that he wasn't even in New Jersey for 190 days out 365 in 2015 doesn't faze her.

"It never even crossed my mind," said Huebner, as she polished off a plate of pancakes at the Mastoris Diner in Bordentown on Sunday. "I have other things to worry about than where Christie is spending his time."

Huebner continued: "Even if he's not here, he's totally in the loop. If you are president of the United States, or the governor of the state, you're on duty 365 days a year."

Christie will definitely be on duty in Jersey on Tuesday, addressing legislators during the annual State of the State address in Trenton. He is scheduled to spend Monday in New Hampshire as he runs for the GOP nomination for president.

Christie's attendance numbers - 190 days out of state and another 71 days where he spent part of the time in Pennsylvania or New York - are confirmed by the governor's office.

Where better to research how South Jersey voters feel about that record than a diner, or two, or four - fueled with at least one cup of coffee to go.

Shiny, gaudy, sprawling or tired, many of South Jersey diners are strung like pearls along Route l30, the gritty spine of the southern half of the state - a faded highway where Walmarts, storage lockers, cheap gas and cinder block motels don't need to humble themselves before Starbucks, Nordstrom's and shopping centers gussied up with planters and upscale boutiques.

In Bordentown, which backed Christie in 2009 and 2013, there's the Mastoris Diner, where Christie posed with well-wishers under a stuffed elk while campaigning for a local congressional candidate in 2014.

He stopped there in 2009 as well while still a brash tough-talking U.S. attorney making a run for the governor's mansion.

"Small-business people are getting crushed here in every way," Christie said then, talking about how regulations and taxes were butchering businesses caught in the throes of the recession.

On Sunday, engineer Alan May, a Christie supporter from Bordentown, ordered the blueberry pancakes and said that Christie's time away from the state didn't bother him.

"We have the Internet, we have smartphones," said May. "Years ago, when we had telegraphs, it might have been a problem."

"We work globally," said his wife, Sherry, a pharmaceutical analyst who manages clinical trials. People "work from home every day - as long as the work gets done."

Both liked Christie as a governor, but Alan May doesn't think he'll make it as a presidential candidate. "He's too East Coast."

In Burlington City, Amy's Omelette House, home of the Belly Buster omelette, is a must-stop for politicians. The town went for Christie's opponents both times.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish," said Barbara Nichols, 66, of Burlington Township, a retired state government employee who is not, to put it mildly, a Christie supporter. "He has aspirations to be president, but he signed on to be governor."

Nichols' daughter, still standing after besting Amy's Belly Buster, agreed. "New Jersey has lots of financial issues" that need the governor's attention, said Morgan Nichols-Smith, 35, a compliance analyst at a health insurer.

"People can work remotely, but being face-to-face and hands-on and being in touch with your coworkers is important," she said.

Heading south on Route 130, there is the Jersey Diner in Cinnaminson, its silver-plated entranceway flashing in Sunday's intermittent showers of sun.

Cinnaminson voters chose Christie twice, and in the Jersey Diner parking lot, Christie supporter Jay Smith, a retired utility worker from Bordentown, pointed out that people who want to be president have to campaign out of the state.

"If he wants to win the presidency, that's what he has to do," he said.

"I'm sure there are qualified people who can help him" run the state, his wife, Leah Smith agreed.

By the time Route 130 gets to Pennsauken, it's winding through Democratic territory.

Grave digger Gabe Gambale, 32, worked on a bacon burger and fries at the counter of the Penn Queen Diner Sunday. He didn't vote for Christie and has no plans to do so in the future.

Wherever Christie is, Gambale said, it would be better if he worked his job as governor, "rather than doing his own political errands.

"It would be nice to have a governor who is worried about New Jersey and is actually here, as opposed to being in Dallas at a football game."

jvonbergen@phillynews.com

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@JaneVonBergen

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