Editor's note: This is the second of three gubernatorial candidate profiles prior to the Nov. 3 election.

ISELIN (AP) -- Chris Christie has had political ambitions his whole life. He was president of his class at Livingston High School and the student government of the University of Delaware, and a committed volunteer for Republican campaigns.

A dozen years ago, he figured he was done with running for office when he was bounced from a Republican primary after serving one turbulent term as a Morris County freeholder.

Now, he's running for governor, and tied in the polls against the Democratic incumbent, Jon Corzine. Like former Goldman Sachs chairman Corzine, his path to the race came outside the traditional route of moving up gradually from perhaps the town council to the state Legislature before running for statewide office.

Christie, 47, moved into position to make a serious run for governor during a seven-year stint as the state's U.S. Attorney, during which he built a reputation as a corruption fighter in a state rife with corruption.

He was an unconventional pick by President George W. Bush. He got the job, and much of his political juice, through the connections he made working for the Bush campaign.

Democrats know that, too; one of their main criticisms of Christie is that he's too close to the Bush administration.

The key link to Bush initially was lobbyist Bill Palatucci, who ran the New Jersey campaign of President George H.W. Bush in 1988 -- the last time the state supported a Republican for president -- and 1992. Christie took a few months off his job as a securities lawyer to volunteer for the second campaign and struck up a bond with Palatucci, who soon joined the Cranford law firm where Christie was then an associate.

In 1994, Christie won a seat on the Morris County Board of Freeholders. Within months after being sworn in, he already was seeking another office, this time a seat in the state Senate. He lost that primary. In 1997, he lost a primary to keep his freeholder job.

"When I left electoral politics in 1997," he said, "I never thought I'd come back to it."

In 1998, Palatucci said he was at a Republican Governors Association convention when he ran into Bush, who by then was a nationally known figure as the governor of Texas, the son of a former president and the former owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team.

Bush invited him to bring a contingent from New Jersey to Texas to talk about his plans to run for president.

Palatucci's group included Christie, along with some key Republicans from New Jersey. Among them were state Senate President Donald DiFrancesco, and Assembly Speaker Jack Collins.

Christie said he made three or four more trips to Austin in the first part of 1999. When Bush launched his campaign, Christie became his lead lawyer in New Jersey, a volunteer job.

When Bush was elected, Christie applied to be U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, the top federal law enforcement job in the state. Palatucci said he also sent Christie's resume to Karl Rove, Bush's political affairs director.

Christie said U.S. Attorney was the only administration job that interested him, and the only one for which he applied.

"I had always been someone who had watched the office from afar and had admired some of the people who held the position," he said.

Not yet 40, Christie was not the sort of lawyer who got his name in the paper and not an obvious choice for the job.

"When I became U.S. Attorney, I had never prosecuted a criminal case" he said in a speech this month to a Chamber of Commerce group in Galloway. "There were editorials all over the state of New Jersey that said, 'This guy's not up for the job, he doesn't have the requisite experience.' "

Christie, who radiates confidence, said he knew he would be a good leader if given the chance.

"I think the record over the seven years that I was U.S. Attorney proved that we were right and the editorial writers were wrong," he said.

Christie's confidantes, who include many top Republicans, say the charismatic and sometimes brash lawyer gained the trust of so many leaders because they saw him in action, as a freeholder lobbying state lawmakers on local issues and later as a campaign lawyer.

"People had and have a good feeling about his judgment, his competence, his independence, his ability to be good at that role," said state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, who was then chair of the state Republican Committee. "The proof is in the pudding."

Christie kept longtime Justice Department lawyers in the office's other top spots and put a priority on corruption investigations. Throughout seven years, he built a following by winning convictions of 130 public officials. His office also got convictions in the high-profile terrorism trials of arms dealer Hemnant Lackhani and of six men accused of plotting to kill military personnel, possibly at Fort Dix.

Within two years, Republicans reportedly were trying to draft him for a gubernatorial bid in 2005, when Corzine ended up running and winning.

Getting to know Chris Christie

NAME: Christopher Christie.

AGE: 47. Born Sept. 6, 1962, in Newark.

FAMILY: Married with two daughters and two sons.

RESIDENCE: Mendham.

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE: Republican. Morris County freeholder, 1995-97, then lost re-election primary in 1997; also lost primary for state senate seat in 1995. Served as fund-raiser and New Jersey legal counsel for George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign.

EDUCATION: Graduated in 1984 from the University of Delaware with a bachelor's degree in political science. Obtained law degree from Seton Hall University in 1987.

OCCUPATION: Lawyer. Former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, serving from January 2002 until he resigned Dec. 1, 2008; previously was a partner specializing in securities law and appellate practice at the Cranford-based firm of Dughi, Hewit & Palatucci.

NOTABLE: As the state's top federal prosecutor, Christie prosecuted more than 130 elected and appointed political officials, including former Newark Mayor Sharpe James, former state Sen. Wayne Bryant, and ex-Senate President John A. Lynch Jr., without a single acquittal.

ON TAXES: Wants to cut taxes across the board; proposes requiring a two-thirds majority in Legislature to increase taxes.

ON STATE SPENDING: Proposes cutting state government spending by using line-item veto and evaluating all programs to decide which are not effective.

ON SOCIAL ISSUES: Opposes abortion, wants tighter restrictions such as parental notification for minors, a 24-hour waiting period and a ban on the procedure opponents call partial-birth abortion; says he would veto law allowing same-sex marriage but does not oppose civil unions.

ON EDUCATION: Would allow children in failing school districts to transfer to public schools in other communities under certain circumstances.

ON HEALTH CARE: Proposes allowing out-of-state insurance companies to offer no-frills policies. The policies would not be bound by the same minimum coverage mandates as other policies.

QUOTE: "I am ready to begin the work to solve our problems and optimistic that together, we can change New Jersey."