Chris Christie, an aggressive formerprosecutor who racked up a perfect conviction rate in publiccorruption cases and became the darling of New Jersey's RepublicanParty establishment, has unseated the deep-pocketed but unpopularGov. Jon Corzine.

Christie, 47, on Tuesday became the first member of his party ina dozen years to win a statewide contest in heavily Democratic NewJersey. President Barack Obama invested heavily in the race,campaigning with Corzine five times on three separate visits.

With 75 percent of precincts reporting, Christie had 50 percentof the vote compared to 44 percent for Corzine. Independentcandidate Chris Daggett, who at one point had been feared as apotential spoiler, had about 5 percent.

Christie accepted public financing in the race against thewealthy incumbent and was outspent by more than $12 million. He didget financial help from the Republican Governors Association andother national Republican groups, which bought television time inthe pricey New York and Philadelphia media markets.

Christie ran on a platform of smaller government andrelentlessly criticized Corzine for what he called poor economicstewardship - unemployment was 9.8 percent in October and propertytaxes averaged $7,045 per household, the nation's highest. But hewas criticized during the campaign for remaining vague about how hewould solve New Jersey's chronic fiscal problems.

The physically robust Christie endured an onslaught of personalattacks from the Corzine campaign; his weight even became a centralissue at one point.

Christie made a reputation for himself as a hard-charging U.S.attorney who locked up 130 officials without losing a singlecorruption case.

However, his image as an ethics champion was questioned whenrevelations emerged that he had lent a subordinate money but failedto report it, and that he'd been involved in a traffic accident butwas not ticketed.

In the final days of the campaign, while Corzine was campaigningwith Obama and former President Bill Clinton, Christie hit all 21counties aboard a bus, campaigning with New York Mayor RudyGiuliani and former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean.

Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina, who was sharply criticizedwhen he yelled, "You lie," during Obama's health care speech to ajoint session of Congress, stumped for Christie in the campaign'sfinal weekend.

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To see Governor-elect Christie's press conference, go to Channel 612 on your iO digital cable box and select iO Extra.