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Christie won’t commit to serving full term in New Jersey

Posted at 1:56 PM, Nov 10, 2013
and last updated 2013-11-10 12:58:31-05

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Chris Christie won’t say how long he’ll spend as governor of New Jersey.

The newly re-elected governor said his focus is on his home state, but acknowledged he could prematurely leave the governor’s mansion to pursue his presidential ambitions.

When ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked Christie if he expected to serve all four years of his term as governor, Christie sidestepped the question.

“Who knows? I don’t know,” the governor said.

Christie did insist that he wanted to “finish the job” in New Jersey, including helping the state to recover from the devastation wrought by Superstorm Sandy last year. Christie told CNN’s Jake Tapper last week that the task is his “mission.”

“Those images of those people and their suffering and their loss are with me every day,” Christie told Tapper. “So, to finish that (recovery) is not a job. It’s a mission, because it’s sacred.”

Christie hedged when Stephanopoulos asked whether or not he would get into the presidential race in 2016.

“I didn’t expect to be sitting here four years ago,” Christie said. “Nobody can make those predictions.”

Christie struck a different tone on another Sunday morning news program.

“What I’m interested in doing is being the governor of New Jersey,” Christie told Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”

Still, Christie did admit that “everybody’s going to be speculating on what may come of my future.”