Christie and Obama have traded praise of each other for their response to the storm. Obama & Christie: A Sandy love story

BRIGANTINE, N.J. —It was like Valentine’s Day on Halloween.

President Barack Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie cemented their new-found mutual admiration society on Wednesday, as the men gushed with praise for one another while touring damage from Hurricane Sandy on the devastated Jersey Shore.


( Also on POLITICO: Christie heaps praise on Obama)

After days of effusive comments from Christie — who’s been a top Mitt Romney surrogate throughout the campaign — the president wasted no time returning the favor.

“At the top of my list, I have to say that Gov. Christie throughout this process has been responsive. He’s been aggressive in making sure that the state got out in front of this incredible storm and I think the people of New Jersey recognize that he has put his heart and soul into making sure the people of New Jersey bounce back even stronger than before,” Obama said as he stood alongside Christie during a brief press statement Wednesday afternoon near a largely destroyed marina. “So, I just want to thank him for his extraordinary leadership and partnership.”

“We are here for you and we will not forget, we will follow up to make sure you get all the help you need until you rebuild,” Obama added.

( Also on POLITICO: Christie aide denies rift with Mitt)

During the press statement and and earlier appearance at a nearby storm shelter, Christie publicly thanked Obama at least six times for his dedication to getting help and supplies to the Garden State.

”I’m pleased to report that he has sprung into action to help get us those things immediately,” the governor said. “It’s been a great working relationship to make sure that were doing the job people elected us to do.

“I cannot thank the president enough,” added Christie, who’s statement drew a hearty handshake and a “Good job, Chris” from the president as he stepped to the microphone.

( See also: Full Sandy coverage)

As they dropped by the shelter earlier, Obama also went out of his way to salute Christie’s leadership.

“I want to just let you know that your governor is working overtime to make sure that as soon as possible everybody can get back to normal,” Obama told those being housed at a community center northeast of Atlantic City. “The main message I wanted to send is the entire country has been watching what’s been happening. Everybody knows how hard Jersey’s been hit.”

Christie assured the storm victims that Obama’s promises of aid could be counted on. “I know he means it,” the governor said.

Obama’s trip here comes at the end of a four-day hiatus from the campaign trail brought about by Hurricane Sandy. Instead of stumping in swing states, the president presented himself as a man in charge, with the White House releasing photos of him directing the federal storm response in the Situation Room in between visits to the Red Cross and Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters.

He’ll hit the trail again Thursday, with stops in Nevada, Colorado and Ohio.

But Wednesday, the president began his visit by inspecting coastal damage by helicopter, spending an hour with Christie aboard Marine One above the state’s devastated shoreline.

During recent interviews, Christie — who flirted twice with running against Obama himself — has been vocal and unstinting in his praise for Obama and his administration’s disaster relief team.

And when questions about have arisen about how Romney might address the crisis, Christie has often brushed them aside. On Fox News Tuesday, the governor was asked about the possibility the GOP presidential contender could tour the storm damage.

”I have no idea nor am I the least bit concerned or interested. I’ve got a job to do here in New Jersey that’s much bigger than presidential politics and I could care less about any of that stuff,” Christie said on the network’s morning program, “Fox and Friends.”

“I’ve got 2.4 million people out of power. I’ve got devastation on the shore. I’ve got floods in the northern part of my state. If you think right now I give a damn about presidential politics then you don’t know me,” the Garden State governor added.

To CNN’s Piers Morgan Tuesday night, Christie said he had spoken to the Republican nominee — but that was about all he could remember of the conversation.

“When you don’t sleep that much, days run into each other,” Christie said. “But one evening over the weekend, either Saturday or Sunday night, Gov. Romney called me at home and just asked for how things were going, what was going on. I believe that was on Sunday night.”

A top adviser to Romney, Kevin Madden, told reporters Wednesday that he knew of no plans for Romney to visit storm-affected areas. However, Madden stressed that the campaign was continuing to encourage supporters to make donations to the Red Cross.

Madden declined to comment Wednesday on Christie’s praise for Obama’s response to Sandy.

“I refer to Gov. Christie’s remarks. I believe the response is still going on so I’m not in a position to qualify the response by the federal government. I believe it’s still ongoing,” Madden told reporters.

One Christie-watcher said Wednesday that the governor’s motives don’t appear to be political, but his warmth towards Obama is likely to pay political dividends.

“I really think the two people here are doing what their primary jobs are, which are as chief executives, addressing what is absolutely a massive disaster that I think people who aren’t right here really don’t understand,” said David Redlawsk, a pollster and political science professor at Rutgers. “I don’t actually think it’s political calculation at all, but the fact of the matter is New Jersey remains a Democratic state and [Christie] has to run for re-election next year in a state that genuinely likes Obama, so it would do no good to give him the back of the hand, particularly right now.”

Redlawsk said Christie’s recent dismissiveness of Romney-related questions likely reflected the governor’s trademark bluntness when confronting what he regards as foolish queries or critiques. The governor’s focus on Obama can be explained by the fact that the president’s in a better position to help and may well continue to be during the rebuilding to come, the pollster said.

“I think Christie and Christie’s advisers decided a long time ago Obama was going to win re-election,” Redlawsk said. “There’s some advantage, of course, to maintaining that relationship with the president.”

During his visit to the northeast on Wednesday, Obama didn’t stop in New York City— a decision New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced Tuesday, saying he did not mean to “diss” the president by saying that kind of presence would have been unhelpful at the moment.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters Wednesday that the White House had concluded a visit to New York would divert resources needed to recover from the disaster.

“It was the assessment at the White House, that because of the situation in lower Manhattan, it would not be appropriate for the president…to visit New York at this time,” Carney said as Air Force One traveled to New Jersey.

Bloomberg said Tuesday that Obama had offered to visit New York, as well, but the mayor said he deemed Wednesday was “too soon. “

Carney said the mayor and the White House’s views were fully aligned. “He was agreeing with our assessment,” the Obama aide said.

With the election under a week away, speculation has begun to turn to the possible political impact for the presidential race.

Senior Obama strategist Davis Axelrod said Wednesday he was “reluctant to make political speculations” about the storm’s impact on the race, but said he believed that the dynamics and momentum of the race had been stunted while attention stayed on the storm and its aftermath.

”Our judgment was that until we got a handle on the scope of this disaster, the president’s job, and this was his judgment, was to remain in Washington and in face-to-face touch with those who are responsible,” Axelrod said on a conference call with reporters. ”We’ve passed a threshold here. We owe it to folks to make the final arguments, and we’re going to do that. The only impact that I would suggest to you that I think we can talk about and that we know is that it tended to freeze the race, wherever you think the race is.”

Madden also declined to speculate on how the hurricane may have recast the final days before the election.

“We try not to look at handicapping the campaign through the lens of the storm and just focus instead on getting our message out to voters,” he said.

— Edward-Isaac Dovere and James Hohmann contributed reporting to this story.