'I didn't help Obama win': Chris Christie hits back at GOP critics who claim he sunk Romney's chances during Hurricane Sandy

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Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor, has emphatically denied that he played any part in re-electing Barack Obama by warmly praising the president's handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Christie, who is seeking re-election next year and harbours ambitions to run for president himself in 2016, has faced an embittered whispering campaign from some aides to Mitt Romney, the defeated Republican nominee.

Some Romney aides argue that Christie, who was considered as the former Massachusetts governor's vice-presidential running mate, went out of his way to laud Obama knowing that this would diminish Romney.

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Don't call me a traitor: Christie told Walters that the President 'stepped up tremendously' to respond to Sandy . . . and he won election 'comfortably' anyway

But in an interview with Barabara Walters on ABC News, he rejected the notion that he had helped Obama win back the White House with his appearances with the president Obama following the hurricane, which left more than seven million people in his state without power.

'First of all, I didn't help him win,' he said. 'I was doing my job. The fact of the matter is President Obama won the election pretty comfortably… I was doing my job as I saw fit to do it. And I told the truth, like I always do. The president did step up and help tremendously in New Jersey.'

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Christie said that when the two men flew in the president's helicopter Marine One to look at the devastation caused by the hurricane, he made clear he was backing Romney. 'I said, you know, I'm not voting for you,' he told Walters. 'And he said, "I never thought you were".'

Romney's former chief strategist Stuart Stevens last week backed up Christie's contention. In an interview with Charlie Rose of PBS, last week, Stevens said: 'After the storm I never had a good feeling.

'Not that the storm impacted things that much per se but these races, a race like this is a lot like an NBA game and it`s all about ball control at the end. 

Just doing my job: The image that so riled the GOP just days before the election

'And we went from, in every incumbent I`ve ever defeated , I`ve been involved in, well you had to really prosecute an argument at the end. And we went from having these big rallies around the country to literally sitting in hotel rooms and there`s just nothing we could do about it.'

But he was at pains to stress that 'I don`t think at all that it had anything to do with Chris Christie' 

When asked directly whether Christie's praise for Obama during Sandy had had an impact, Stevens replied: 'I think the storm did. I don`t think...Governor Christie was just being a good governor.'

But other Romney aides have made clear their displeasure with Christie, saying that he went out of his way to champion Obama. In particular, they remember a response Christie gave to a question on Fox News.

When Christie was asked if Romney had any plans to visit New Jersey, Christie answered: 'I have no idea, nor am I the least bit concerned or interested. I've got a job to do here in New Jersey that's much bigger than presidential politics, and I could care less about any of that stuff.'

A former Romney aide said: 'Christie went way beyond doing his job. No one begrudges him hosting the President or touring damaged areas with him. But did he really need to be so effusive and go out of his way to praise Obama as the greatest thing ever?

'Christie wants to be president in 2016. To do that, he needs to be re-elected governor in 2013 in a Democratic state. What he was doing was politically calculated to appeal to the Democrat and centrist voters he'll need to further his ambitions.

'As always with Christie in 2012, it was all about Chris Christie and not about helping Mitt Romney or the Republican party.'

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