Over at the Campaign Spot, Jim has plenty of praise for Gov. Chris Christie and his gutsy speech (without notes!) to 200 New Jersey mayors on the necessity of tough choices and budgetary bloodletting.

The video is here.

I had a chance to interact with then-candidate Christie while reporting for a paper in North Jersey, and was duly impressed, but I can also tell you that the governor has an uphill battle. New Jersey is a big-government state all the way down to the county and local levels — with a litany of regional boards, commissions and “authorities” thrown in for good measure — and without the lubrication of money from Trenton that machine will screech and whine.

So besides all the Democrats to whom Christie is anathema, you can bet there were among that audience a good number of solid, principled Republican mayors who are nevertheless feeling some separation anxiety as a result of the cuts to local aid that Christie has had to undertake to restore some fiscal sanity to the state. Thankfully, the New Jersey governorship is constitutionally strong and Christie has been able to make a big impact with executive orders, halting the growth of the state’s bureaucracy in ways that would never have flown in the legislature.

More thankfully still, New Jerseyans seem to be showing Christie some early love. From a new Fairleigh-Dickinson/Public Mind Poll.

Fifty-two percent approve of his job performance less than two months in, while 21 percent disapprove. Support is somewhat divided along party lines, with Republicans backing him 74-7, and Democrats split 38-33. Independents approve by a margin of 43-17 percent. Christie’s fav/unfav is now 47 / 25, an improvement from a 41 / 44 split in a poll just before last November’s election.

Fifty-two percent is quite a statement in a deep-blue state with a deep-red governor.