It just goes to show how very different are the natures of 2013’s only two gubernatorial elections; down in Virginia, Ken Cuccinelli and Terry McAuliffe have been sniping at each other in television ads for months already trying to gain the upper hand in the purplish state, but up north, it’s a whole other ballgame.

Republican Gov. Christie is cruising to an easy victory in super-blue New Jersey, with the RCP average of the handful of polls anyone’s bothered to even perform putting him at +24 over Democratic candidate Barbara Buono. He definitely has the long game in mind, but for now, he can sit back, relax, and produce entirely positive and upbeat political ads about his accomplishments and knack for bipartisanship at his leisure:

Via PolitickerNJ:

Gov. Chris Christie’s first television ad of the general election began running this morning in the New York and Philadelphia media markets as part of a $1.5 million advertising purchase. …

The ad is the first by either candidate in the election, but Christie, with nearly $12 million raised in this cycle, has already purchased some $700,000 in cable air time for later in the campaign season.

To put that in perspective, Buono had yet to break the million-dollar mark with her fundraising efforts at the last count. Ouch.

In response to the ad, the Buono campaign called it “misleading.”

“Chris Christie’s discredited, trickle-down philosophy has given New Jersey one of the worst job creation rates in the country, leaving more than 400,000 people out of work,” said David Turner, campaign spokesman. “This ad only proves that the Real Housewives of New Jersey have a better handle on the economy than the Governor.”