“I was gonna get up, but I think I’ll stay on one knee,” Christie said to laughter from a crowd of more than 100, before diving into a detailed explanation of the state of the beloved federal program and his plan to save it.

The 53-year-old real estate agent suggested that understanding his proposal was the final hurdle to getting her vote.

HUDSON, N.H. — New Jersey Governor Chris Christie knelt down in the dust of the factory floor here at Gilchrist Metal Fabricating Co. and leaned in close to hear undecided voter Ann Antosca’s question about his plan to reform Social Security.


Less than 24 hours before New Hampshire voters hit the polls, Christie was joyfully, pugnaciously, extemporaneously embracing his campaign mantra of “Telling It Like It Is” and making a last-ditch effort to appeal to Granite State voters before they cast their ballots.

With public polls showing him mired in sixth place in the GOP primary contest — an average of about 5 percent of likely voters saying they’d back the New Jersey governor — Christie is using his widely-praised weekend debate performance to argue he’s ready for the big job and deserves voters’ trust to take on Democrat Hillary Clinton and serve as president.

“I think you saw on Saturday night, that when the lights get really bright — they were really bright on Saturday night: 13 and half million people watched it on television, a big crowd in that assembly room at Saint Anselm [College], and the media of the United States all watching,” Christie said. “When the lights get that bright, you either shine or you melt. We cannot afford to have a president who melts.”

In that debate, Christie, a former federal prosecutor and governor since 2010, savaged Florida Senator Marco Rubio for lacking the executive experience needed to be president and having a practically robotic attachment to scripted talking points. Much of the subsequent media coverage of that debate focused on Rubio’s repetition again and again of one particular phrase.


“When you’re sitting, as president of the United States ... across the table from Vladimir Putin, you don’t want to repeat the same thing four or five times over again,” Christie said in Hampstead, N.H., later in the day. “Even someone who doesn’t understand English is gonna know that’s a problem.”

For his part Monday, Christie stuck to some familiar talking points, but he was also discursive. At two of four planned town hall meetings he fluidly answered questions ranging from the national debt to the state of the US Air Force to health care costs.

He talked about policy but also returned again and again to a major theme and contrast with his opponents: He’s been tested and is ready to lead.

Christie told the audience he has repeatedly been tried and proved himself — from a big national disaster to having to wrangle frequently with a Democratic legislature to dealing with what he framed as the most aggressive liberal media in America.

But his spiel wasn’t without interruption.

Protestors, apparently from Christie’s home state, loudly shouted, “Not good for Jersey, not good for you!” outside his Hampstead event. The governor greeted the demonstration with a smile.

He told the crowd how much he appreciates the people out the window. Twinkle in his eye, Christie said hasn’t been home in a while and misses his people.


“I am so glad that they sent some of favorite Democrats up here to give me a hard time. I love it,” he said to laughter. “It makes me feel right at home!”

Still, if Christie’s mood was ebullient and he projected ascendance, he faces a difficult road ahead, from glut of other philosophically similar candidate vying for New Hampshire votes, to opponents and their affiliated super PACs with far more cash.

Yet back in Hudson in the factory, he got some good news part way through his town hall. He looked down at his suit pants and realized they were covered in grime.

“Listen, I hope she votes for me, I got dirt all over my pants,” he said playfully, referring to Antosca, the voter who had asked him about Social Security. “I hope I got your vote!”

Antosca yelled that she would, indeed, be voting for him.

New Hampshire primary “Good,” Christie said as the audience broke into applause and cheers. “Worth the dirty pants.”

Joshua Miller can be reached at joshua.miller@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jm_bos and subscribe to his weekday e-mail update on politics at bostonglobe.com/politicalhappyhour