Governor Christie’s Speech Popular With Shore Mayors [VIDEO/AUDIO]

Not surprisingly, Jersey shore Mayors are giving Governor Christie a big "thumbs up" after his State of the State address, that put Sandy recovery and restoration efforts front-and-center.

Toms River Mayor Tom Kelaher says despite all the problems in his community, "with debris in the bay right now - that's floated over - particularly from the barrier island, and well over a million cubic yards of sand that washed over the barrier islands …Governor is doing a great job -I couldn't think of anything else - if he were standing here right now and he said what do you want - I don't think there's anything I could ask."

Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty says Christie's speech was very well done, and it pointed up the need for bipartisan cooperation.

• Full coverage of the speech

"I think everyone understands that democrats and republicans differ on issues," he says. "But when it comes to recovering and rebuilding, all elected officials in the state need to get behind this Governor…Let him do his job and let him lead us through this."

Seabright Mayor Dina Long says she thought the State of the State speech hit the nail on the head.

"Governor Christie has been a tremendous leader," she says. "A champion for all of us who have been affected by Sandy - what's he's done in the days after the storm has been inspiring for us on the local level- gave us the strength to keep going and inspired us."

Nevertheless, she point out, "We're still waiting for help and guidance… I'm looking forward to taking advantage of some of those initiatives that the Governor outlined in his speech that he says are already in place…We have had lots of moral support but unfortunately the financial support hasn't showed up yet - and so that's what we're looking for in the days ahead."

Long says, "It's not clear how we access the help - and so we keep hearing about it, but in our situation on the ground locally it's still quite dire…The majority of the homes have been damaged and sit gutted and our residents want to rebuild smartly and mitigating risk - but so far there hasn't been financial resources and guidance on how to do that…It's almost like we're being punished for wanting to do the right thing because here we are some 70 days later and we got nothing."

Courtesy Governor's Office