MANCHESTER, N.H. The pleading phone calls, solicitous text messages and eager dinner invitations come at all hours, even on holidays an unrelenting wave of attention from a governor never known for offering small doses of himself.
On Thanksgiving, when State Senator Jeb Bradleys iPhone buzzed with a new text message, he was hardly surprised by the identity of the sender: It was Chris Christie. Again.
Hes calling me, said Mr. Bradley, all the time.
Mr. Christies slavish devotion to New Hampshire, and his painstaking cultivation of its political leadership, paid by far their biggest dividend on Saturday when the influential New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper offered him an unexpectedly early and forceful endorsement.
Over the next few days, his determination will yield still more prizes: the endorsements of a widely courted former speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, Donna Sytek, and two powerful and wealthy local real estate developers, Renee and Dan Plummer.
As Mr. Christie tries to revive a presidential candidacy that seemed all but doomed, his assiduous courtship of civic and political figures across New Hampshire, the first state to hold a Republican primary, is emerging as potentially potent, unseen force. Behind the scenes, Mr. Christie is deploying every available tool of persuasion, lavishing a level of contact and engagement that elected officials and business leaders say they have not received (or endured) from anybody else in the 2016 field.
Please tell me what I have to do to earn your support, Mr. Christie wrote in a text message to Scott Hilliard, the sheriff of Merrimack County, he recalled.
It was the start of an intense, monthslong pursuit. Mr. Christie invited Sheriff Hilliard to an intimate round-table discussion. Then to a meal. After Sheriff Hilliard mentioned how important the heroin epidemic had become to him, as a law enforcement official, Mr. Christie set up a tour of a local drug rehabilitation center in New Hampshire and asked the sheriff to come along.
Sheriff Hilliard was sold. He sent a text to one Mr. Christies aides, informing him that he intended to endorse the governor.
I caved in sooner than I had anticipated, Sheriff Hilliard said.
Of course, endorsements from respected leaders the shimmering medallions of every campaign do not guarantee votes, or much of anything. And Mr. Christies candidacy is still struggling to prove it has a real chance at winning a nominating contest, bogged down as it has been by the George Washington Bridge lane closing scandal and his mixed record as a steward of New Jerseys economy.
But the endorsements of him are increasingly hard to ignore: The Union Leader, a venerable voice for Republicans in state politics, portrayed Mr. Christie as the most prepared Republican seeking the partys nomination.
Mr. Christie is right for these dangerous times, Joseph W. McQuaid, the publisher, wrote in the endorsement editorial. As a U.S. attorney and then a big-state governor, he is the one candidate who has the range and type of experience the nation desperately needs.
For many, the motivation to endorse a candidate who remains such a long shot is a mix of conviction, exposure and flattery.
Its nice to be wanted, said Ms. Sytek, the former House speaker.
And wanted she was. Mr. Christie, a dedicated but playful texter who seems to prefer the mediums blunt brevity to endless phone conversations, has showered Ms. Sytek with messages. When she told the governor after a meeting that he was among her top three choices for president, he shot her a message as he headed to the airport.
Happy to be in your top three. I want to be No. 1, Mr. Christie wrote.
Follow-up messages soon arrived. Time to talk? he asked.
Rival campaigns reached out and frequently, in the case of Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Carly Fiorina. But neither had Mr. Christies detailed plan to rein in Social Security and Medicare costs. (When Ms. Sytek asked Mrs. Fiorina how she would tackle those problems, she twice replied that she would weed out waste and abuse. It just didnt do it for me, Ms. Sytek said. That was a deal breaker.)
Ms. Sytek is scheduled to endorse Mr. Christie on Tuesday, the day after he is set to receive the backing of the Plummers, a husband-and-wife team of Republican activists who have developed major sites in the state. Their endorsement was first reported by NH1, a local news network.
Over all, more than 100 state leaders have endorsed Mr. Christie. Those who remain on the fence withstand a seemingly nonstop campaign to publicly side with him. During a house party in Bedford a few days ago, as he shook hands with voters standing around bowls of hummus and pita chips, Mr. Christie seized on a former mayor of Manchester, Raymond Wieczorek, whose endorsement is still up for grabs.
Mr. Mayor, he said, grasping Mr. Wieczoreks shoulders and smiling mischievously. The governor invoked his wife, Mary Pat Christie, who has wooed potential endorsers on her husbands behalf, with phone calls and meetings. Youre lucky the missis isnt here, Mr. Christie told him. She asks about you aaalll the time. Shes scouting for you.
Mr. Wieczorek laughed. Afterward, he explained that both Mr. and Mrs. Christie and his wife had courted him. Shes after me, he said dryly.
Mr. Christies attentions, however welcome, are not always reciprocated, at least not right away. Mr. Bradley said he had not yet replied to the governors message from Thanksgiving.
Ive been rude, he said, sheepishly.
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