Will Christie's 'sit down and shut up' style work outside New Jersey?

Chris Christie Confronts Protestor at Superstorm Sandy Event

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s brash style of politics was on full display Wednesday when he told a heckler critical of the state’s response to Superstorm Sandy to “sit down and shut up.”

“Somebody like you doesn’t know a damn thing about what you’re talking about, except to stand up and show off when the cameras are here,” Christie told the heckler, later identified as Jim Keady, at an event marking the second anniversary of Sandy in Belmar, N.J. “I’ve been here when the cameras aren’t here, buddy, and done the work. Turn around, get your fifteen minutes of fame, and then, maybe, take your jacket off, roll up your sleeves, and do something for the people of this state.

“So listen, you want to have the conversation later, I’m happy to have it, buddy,” Christie continued. “But until that time, sit down and shut up.”

“I still have plenty of Jersey in me,” Christie later joked, “so when it comes to having a little ‘back-and-forth,’ I will not hesitate to have a little ‘back-and-forth.'”

While that kind of “back-and-forth” might play well in New Jersey, where the governor won reelection in a landslide last year, it remains to be seen if it would play as well on the national stage, should Christie seek the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

“It might be appealing to enough people in New Jersey to win re-election,” CNN “Inside Politics” host John King said Thursday. “But to the people of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and beyond, do they find it presidential or bullying?”