Republican Gov. Chris Christie and Democratic Sen. Barbara Buono squared off in the second and final gubernatorial debate.

Chris Christie and Barbara Buono shake hands at start of gubernatorial debate
Chris Christie and Barbara Buono shake hands at start of gubernatorial debate (NJTV)
loading...

Christie makes no apologies for his tough talk in a debate with Sen. Barbara Buono.

The Republican governor says occasionally calling people out is part of who he is and would continue into a second term.

Christie said his strong language has not kept Republicans and Democrats from working together under his leadership.

Buono says it's disrespectful when the governor calls people "jerk" or "idiot."

EARLIER:

When the date was first announced, Buono and some others balked claiming voters might be distracted because tomorrow is the special election for US Senate in NJ. Christie dismisses that concern.

"What are people doing the night before an election that prevents them from watching the debate exactly?" Christie sarcastically asked at a recent State House press conference. "Are they sitting there in kind of like a Zen state meditating over whether they're going to vote for Steve Lonegan or Cory Booker?"

A letter was sent by the Buono camp to the NJ Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) asking for either a sponsor change or a date change. Neither request was granted.

"The sponsors pick the dates, I show up," says Christie. "I'll show up and do my job and all this complaining and moaning really is kind of funny."

Asking for a sponsor or date change isn't exactly "complaining and moaning," but that's not going to stop Christie from going off on one of his very familiar rants.

"It's like any other night," says Christie. "What if we did it the night after (the special election) and a whole bunch of people are drunk because they're so happy about whoever won?"

More From 92.7 WOBM