I’m a little surprised that NJ booted Corzine. I guess I shouldn’t have been given our history. We’ll take high taxes and massive government spending for a while and then we say, “Enough!” It happened with Florio in 1993 and we did it again last night. Corzine was corrupt, raised taxes beyond what we could bear (NJ is taxed at a higher rate than NY), spent way too much of the tax payers’ money (NJ spends more than PA) and caused many companies to leave the state (we have the highest unemployment in the region). And with all that, he promised to raise our taxes again if re-elected.
But Republicans shouldn’t look at this as an embrace of the Republican party, Christie was just a viable alternative to Corzine. This is very much a blue state and here’s proof:

Despite warnings that harsh economic realities would finally lead to a ‘no’ vote on borrowing money to fund open space programs, Garden State voters approved the measure Tuesday, albeit by a smaller margin than in previous years.
With 98 percent of precincts reporting, 52 percent of voters said yes to the “Green Acres” ballot question that asked them to approve borrowing $400 million for open space initiatives. More than 1.5 million votes were cast.

There’s been corruption, misuse of the funds (we’ve paid for a parking lot, playground, and a sports complex) and we can’t afford it, yet it was approved. This is why I do not doubt that Obama will in NJ in 2012 (barring some unforeseen catastrophe — tanking economy, etc.).
Though, if I were a House member, I would not dismiss the Christie win as only being about Corzine. Corzine was voted out for high taxes, spending and jobs, Democrats in Washington might want to keep that in mind for 2010. Even Obama can’t help you get re-elected (less than 20% said Obama influenced their vote).
Update: Wow! It’s so freaky to see NJ that red!