Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham) and Committeewoman Jane Tiger on Wednesday morning in Mendham.: Politicker photo 

MENDHAM - Despite the corruption headlines and the vaunted presence of the man most believe will be the GOP frontrunner in next year’s gubernatorial primary, Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) charged out on the campaign trail today in this high-end leafy burgh where both he and U.S. Attorney Chris Christie reside.

"My plan is to hit a couple of towns each day I go out and just talk to people," said Merkt, 59, attired in jogging gear and hitting a good stride on Cold Hill Lane on the eastern edge of Mendham.

The self-described New Jersey nationalist started in front of St. Joseph’s Church on Main Street. "You just missed him," Mendham Mayor Neil J. Henry, Jr., had said of Merkt. "But if you go now, you might be able to catch him, he’s headed for Brookside."

Half a mile away, the determined figure of the 11-year veteran assemblyman was spied as he headed into a shady straightaway.

"My purpose is threefold," the corporate attorney candidate told PoltiickerNJ.com. "I want to get to know people, I want people to get to know me, and I want to get in shape. If I can get in shape, it proves I can get the state in shape."

He ran through Mendham, a town with political resonance for more than one fledgling candidate in the governor’s race next year.

Indeed, there was talk at the Republican National Convention last week that Merkt’s small town story carries too much Christie undercurrent. They’re both from Mendham. They’re friends. They’ve run in the same political circles for years.

The question is inevitable.

How could the little-known Merkt not be a stalking horse for Christie, a sacrificial rightward-running candidate (albeit pro-choice) strategically positioned in the race to splinter the candidacy of hard-right former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, thereby lending the moderate Christie a comfort zone?

Merkt laughed at the suggestion, in fact pointed out that his candidacy is creating the opposite response among party brass.

"I’m not a stalking horse," he said, still on the run. ""I talked to Chris Christie before I formed my exploratory committee. I told him what I was doing. He’s the favorite of the party insiders, and since I announced I was running, it’s been only party insiders who have leaned on me to get out of the race."

He wouldn’t liken his own challenge to that of state Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Morris), who earlier this year unsuccessfully tried to buck the party as its leaders persistently lined up behind other candidates - anyone, it seemed, but Pennacchio, even as those other candidates crumbled one by one for various reasons.

But Merkt did draw a parallel between himself and the regular guy quality Pennacchio tried to embody on the U.S. Senate trail.

"I think as I run around, people will see a guy who’s a lot like them," said the candidate.

He calls himself a fiscal conservative, and as he jogged into Brookside, which sits on the northern end of Mendham, and some neighbors waved in recognition, Merkt hit familiar party complaints: the state needs to focus on failing schools; the state needs to make deeper cuts.

"We’re $40 billion in debt," he said. "We have too much governmental weight. When our state Constitution was adopted in 1947, we had between 15,000 and 16,000 state workers. Now we’re close to 80,000 people. We have gradually laden more government into everything we do, and that’s the wrong approach. We must gradually work our way back into a sound governmental structure."

He favors an elected attorney general and elected state controller, to take politics out of those offices, in his words.

A car growled past.

Merkt waved.

It was Chris Venis, former Hillsborough deputy mayor, former 7th District Congressional candidate and now Merkt’s attentive campaign manager. They’ve known each other going on 15 years.

"Rick is running because of what he believes," Venis said later. "When he told me he was thinking about it, I told him, ‘do it.’"

Born in New York, Merkt grew up in the Princeton-Hopewell area. He said he wants to jog next in the Princeton area as part of his projected statewide running tour.

"I got in this race early because I don’t think you can organize a gubernatorial candidacy in that time frame (post Nov. 4th), especially when the party leaders have anointed someone," he said. "I have to raise a considerable amount of money and I have to improve my name recognition. We’re a low budget film right now."

Meanwhile, one county over in Essex, in downtown Newark, the corruption trial of Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero unfolded today.

"All I know is he deserves a fair trial," said Merkt. "I give Chris Christie all the credit in the world for pursuing people who are using their office for personal gain."

But for now and for his part, Merkt has now problem pursuing establishment darling Christie in the 2009 gubernatorial race, even if he has to do it on foot.