DOVER, N.H. — In the middle of a crowd at a brick-walled bar in Dover, Chris Christie is at ease, charming several hundred beer-drinking New Hampshire voters, when he decides to take a final question.

In an instant, the mood changes as Eileen Sahagian, born and raised in New Jersey, tells the governor of her native state she was “beyond horrified” by the role his aides are accused of playing in creating traffic jams near a busy bridge to punish a mayor who declined to endorse his re-election.

“I’m worried about having a president who has people around him who think that that’s OK,” she said.

While Christie isn’t yet officially running for president, it’s clear he and his team are staking his likely bid for the GOP nomination on success in New Hampshire and its first-in-the-nation primary.