Barbara Buono Vows a Fight to the End at the Pines Manor

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono may be down in the polls to a popular incumbent, but she showed no signs of packing it in during a get-out-the-vote rally at the Pines Manor in Edison on Saturday.

Buono told supporters at the Pines Manor that she's been counted out several times in her life, including when she was a teen-ager essentially on her own after her father's death.

She trails Governor Christie, a Republican seeking a second term, by double digits in every poll, and talk has shifted from whether she can win to how much Christie will win by as he sets the stage for a possible 2016 run for president.

Buono, a longtime state lawmaker from Middlesex County said she relishes the role of underdog.

"I've been on my own since I was 19," Buono said. "This is nothing compared to staring down that fiscal abyss." "I'm only here because I've never, ever given up," she said. "I will never, ever give up on you. You know that."

The crowd at the Pines Manor rally also heard from U.S. Bob Menendez, D-NJ, who said voting for Buono and Democratic legislative candidates is important to keep New Jersey from getting the type of gridlock he said Republicans have driven in Washington, D.C.

"Elections have consequences and we just saw it at a national level," Menendez said. "I have seen tough races over my life and I know that we can change the course of time."