“They just kept running out the clock,” said Rick Shaftan, a longtime conservative consultant in the state. “So finally they put this correction ad up. The ad is like: ‘Prosecutor’s inquiry completed; no indictments at this time.’ ”

Mr. Shaftan marveled at the Christie campaign’s commitment to the maneuver.

“I’m looking at this like, ‘Wow,’ ” he said.

Mr. Christie finished first in a nine-candidate primary field. The defamation suit persisted long afterward. He cast it as a case of sour grapes.

“They just can’t accept that the election is over,” he said at the time, according to a biography of Mr. Christie by two New Jersey reporters, Bob Ingle and Michael G. Symons. “Once you get into politics, you have to expect to lose, and if you do, you have to be able to do it gracefully.”

Mr. Christie learned that lesson quickly. Several months into his freeholder term, he ran unsuccessfully for a State General Assembly seat. He lost his re-election bid for freeholder in 1997.

By then, the defamation suit had been settled. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Mr. Christie was made to apologize for the 1994 ad in newspapers of his former opponents’ choosing.

“Dear Cissy and Ed,” he began, “I am writing to express my sincere apology to both of you and your families.”