TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie's entourage — a whirling circle of stern-faced troopers and aides — stalled every few yards. A man leaned over a balcony to shout encouragement. People in suits waved. Later, during the weekend of governors meetings in the nation's capital, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and former Pennsylvania Gov. Mark Schweiker scurried over to shake his hand.

The days of gliding unimpeded through a sparkling hotel lobby — especially one blocks from the White House — are long over for Christie.

His Jersey brawler persona might inspire eye-rolling at home, but on the campaign trail as Mitt Romney’s chief surrogate, people eat it up. He’s been a sought-after fundraiser since his first year in office, a trend that continued when he went to Boston last week to raise money for U.S. Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts

But Christie has another title that helps him woo party faithful and make crucial connections should he decide to seek higher office in four years: vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

As a force in the group, the governor is gaining even more juice within the GOP as Republicans push hard to grab control of more statehouses this year. And RGA money can help his own run for governor next year.

"Christie will have a very expensive race in 2013. He’ll have to raise a lot of money," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "One good thing for Chris Christie is when you meet Chris Christie, you never forget him ... and anybody who sees him on the trail or at an RGA event will be inclined to help."

Christie’s climb in the RGA — which represents Republican governors in 29 states and three U.S. territories — is also a jarring example of the one-day-you’re-in-one-day-you’re-out way of politics. At the RGA meetings just three years ago, Christie recalls, he was a blip.

In February 2009, candidate Christie was in Washington to persuade GOP leaders to back his campaign.

He strode into the Ronald Reagan Building on Pennsylvania Avenue and bumped into the past chairman of the RGA, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. Christie said they started up the grand staircase and by the time they reached the top of the 125-foot atrium, Perdue had doused cold water on his plans.

Christie said Perdue told him: "Oh, yeah, New Jersey, you’ll never win. But good luck."

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A meeting with the group’s chairman, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, didn’t go any better. Christie said he listened for a few minutes, looked at his watch and took off.

(Sanford and Perdue did not return calls for comment.)

Christie was incredulous. Hadn’t they heard? It was only February and already polls favored him against incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine. He was a former U.S. attorney with a perfect prosecutorial record. He was Chris Christie.

Many national Republicans instead saw Barack Obama had just won New Jersey by 15 points in his bid for president, and they’d fooled the GOP before by looking like they would deliver a win and then choosing a Democrat.

"You can imagine I was pretty deflated," Christie recalled in an interview.

But later Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour asked to talk privately with Christie and his wife, Mary Pat. He even kicked out campaign strategist Mike DuHaime and political confidant Bill Palatucci.

"I think you can win," Barbour told Christie, according to both men. "I’m going to work it down here to make sure that you get the support you need."

Barbour was chairman of the Republican National Committee in the mid-90s. Under his leadership, the GOP capitalized on voter angst early in Democratic President Bill Clinton’s first term and he predicted a similar wave after Obama won the White House — starting with Christie. He’d seen it happen in New Jersey in 1993, when Republican Gov. Christie Whitman won.

"And ’09 was very similar," Barbour said in an interview. "Wins in ’09 in Virginia and New Jersey gave people a lot of positive feelings that helped stimulate the great field of candidates we had in 2010."

Then Christie caught a bigger break: In June 2009, Sanford admitted to an affair with a woman from Argentina and quit his post as RGA leader. Suddenly Barbour, Christie’s greatest cheerleader, controlled the group’s purse strings.

The RGA spent $7.5 million on behalf of Christie’s campaign. The cash infusion was crucial because under the state’s public matching system Christie’s war chest was capped at $11.4 million while Corzine, who took no public money, tapped his personal fortune to the tune of $27 million.

"If it wasn’t for Haley Barbour, I wouldn’t be governor of New Jersey," Christie said. "A guy like that who was with you when not only wasn’t there anybody on the bandwagon, there wasn’t a bandwagon, you remain incredibly indebted to somebody like that."

Christie repaid the debt by speaking to and mentoring other governors. Starting in late September 2010, he hit the road, pushing his message that reforms, like pulling back on pensions and benefits, was possible through compromise with a legislature controlled by Democrats. When Texas Gov. Rick Perry stepped down as RGA chair last year to run for president, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell moved into the top spot. By November, Christie was vice chair.

Today, Christie’s photograph is the first visitors to RNC headquarters on Capitol Hill see. He plans to campaign this year on behalf of the RGA, which targeted eight of this year’s dozen gubernatorial races.

"I think we have some real opportunities to get over the 30 mark for Republican governors across the country," Christie said, "and so I’ll be working real hard in the races that make sense for me to work in, where the candidates want me to come."

The Democratic Governors Association downplayed Christie’s status as more style than substance. "While Christie’s tough guy act may gin up YouTube views among the conservative base," DGA Executive Director Colm O’Comartun said in a statement, "his failed record as governor — higher property taxes for middle class families and his state’s 9 percent unemployment rate — tells the real story."

Sabato said Christie’s high profile — and his spot in the Republican power structure — certainly helps, recalling the enthusiastic reception business leaders gave Christie after a speech six months ago in South Florida.

"People were throwing their business cards at him," he said. "He and his aides couldn’t collect them fast enough. That’s really what it amounts to."

Republican leaders say those relationships are essential should Christie want to pursue higher office. The chairman of the RGA in 2006, they note, was Mitt Romney.