Kasey Carollo, left, and John Moschella listen as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks during a stop Wednesday at the Tilton Diner in Tilton, N.H. Christie isn't yet officially running for president. But it's clear he and his team are staking his likely bid for the GOP nomination on success in New Hampshire's primary.

DOVER, N.H. — In the middle of a crowd at a 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 Christie 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. Moments like the one last week with Sahagian illustrate the challenge before him.

Republicans and independents in New Hampshire appear drawn to Christie’s brash personality and early forays into policy. But while most of the nearly three dozen voters, activists and political operatives interviewed by The Associated Press in recent weeks are dismissive of what they call the “bridge thing,” many are skeptical he can get past it.

“I think he’s great. Talk about gutsy. He’s the first guy that’s actually told us how he’s going to save Social Security and Medicare,” said Jack Balcom, a state representative from Merrimack, after seeing Christie at a diner.

Balcom said he didn’t know why reporters keep bringing up the George Washington Bridge scandal, which led to the indictment of two former Christie allies and the guilty plea of another. But when asked whether Christie has a chance of winning the GOP nomination, his take on the matter changed.

“He’s not going to be the nominee, for sure,” Balcom said. “We’ve got a lot of other good candidates and you know, Christie does have that baggage with the bridge, unfortunately.”

Christie minimizes the scandal as best he can.

“I’m moving on from it now,” he said, “because I’ve lived through 15 months of three investigations that have now confirmed everything I said 15 months ago.”