Rand Paul, Chris Christie show contrasting styles in New Hampshire

As news photographers snapped their shots, Christie clenched his fists for emphasis as he gave his genial protégé a final pep talk.

Here was a fighter, Christie appeared determined to demonstrate, someone who isn’t going to quit just because the odds look tough.

With Christie likely to launch his widely expected 2016 presidential bid early next year, his image-driven style of campaigning was on full display in the early voting state that figures to be essential to his White House hopes.

His method of campaigning contrasted sharply with the one that Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul — a likely GOP rival in the next New Hampshire primary — employed when he made his latest trip to the state a few days earlier.

While Christie has used the force of his personality to begin paving the way for a presidential run here, Paul has instead leaned on the salience of his ideas rather than his charisma.