Sandown, N.H. — Chris Christie has unveiled detailed policy plans. But on his first day as an official presidential candidate, Christie’s selling point was personality, not policy. He told voters that whether or not they agreed with him, they could always trust him to shoot straight.

In his official announcement Tuesday morning at his old high school in Livingston, N.J., and later at a town hall here in New Hampshire — the state on which he is staking his presidential hopes – Christie spent time telling the story of his parents and his upbringing. It is an indication of the narrow path Christie has to the nomination, a path that he looks prepared to create through the state of New Hampshire — famously friendly to iconoclasts — by sheer force of personality.

“You can hear my answers on questions, you can read my speeches, you can go on my website and read my specific plans, and you can digest that. But the other thing we know about leadership is that who the person is matters very, very much. It is the most difficult thing to calculate in politics,” Christie says Tuesday night. “And so I’m going to end tonight by talking to you about who I am and where I’m from.”

Christie’s personal story has become a prominent feature of his campaign as the New Jersey governor works to salvage his tarnished brand. Once a GOP star who Republicans hoped might enter the 2012 presidential race, Christie now registers around 4 percent in national primary polls. His stock has been damaged by the Bridgegate scandal, and though he was not found to be involved, his proximity was damaging. What’s more, some conservatives still bitterly remember him bear-hugging President Obama as he descended from Air Force One in the wake of Hurricane Sandy and blame him in part for a painful election loss in 2012.

Christie warned the crowd, ‘You’re gonna get what I think, whether you like it or not, and whether it makes you cringe every once in a while or not.’

So Christie’s presidential campaign has attempted to revive memories of his charisma and magnetism, made famous on YouTube in the early days of his governorship. He is the sort of candidate who could capture the crowd in a debate, if he can edge up in the polls enough to get on stage.

Christie’s personal story was front and center at his campaign launch Tuesday morning in Livingston, so much so that it at times overshadowed the presidential announcement that was the purpose of the event. A single large navy blue Christie 2016 banner had been hung on a wall. Hunter green banners proclaiming the athletic prowess of the Livingston Lancers were almost as prominent, flanking the large American flag the campaign had provided.

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Christie was introduced by old friends, not political allies, and his high school friends were evidently in attendance. At one point Christie, in a tangential aside, explained that what had sounded like boos during an introduction were actually people yelling “Juice,” because that was the speaker’s nickname in high school. The nickname’s origin was evidently a personal joke, which he declined to explain further.

There were signs of disorganization, a presidential campaign stitched together haphazardly, and there seemed to be little interest in attending to the press. There was no space for the media to sit, so several reporters climbed to the top of a collapsed bleacher, awkwardly scrambling up to the eight-foot-high ledge.

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Christie warned the crowd, “You’re gonna get what I think, whether you like it or not, and whether it makes you cringe every once in a while or not.”

The 27-minute speech was light on specifics of just what it is that Christie thinks, emphasizing instead his upbringing and moving on to generalities about how to make the country a better place, with more opportunity for all.

#related#The specifics come six hours later at the town hall here in New Hampshire. Christie details policy prescriptions for Social Security, Medicare, tax reform, and education. Still, his closing argument, after an hour and 35 minutes of talking policy and politics, is that he is the candidate voters can trust, even if they don’t agree with him all the time.

“I’ll guarantee you here’s one thing you’ll never say: You’ll never say I don’t know what he thinks. You’ll never say I don’t know how he feels. You’ll never say I don’t know what he’s willing to fight for and if he’s willing to fight for it. You’ll know all that. That’s the promise I make to you in this campaign. You’ll know all that about me, in addition to all of the position papers. You’ll know all that. And if that’s the kind of person you want to be the next president of the United States, then I think I’ll be able to earn your vote,” he says.

To have a shot at the nomination, Christie is going to have to make that sale stick.