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To be sure, the state's poor showing can hardly be pinned on Christie. He'd been in office just two years before the data used in the study were collected.
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For example, New Jersey's long-run solvency problems are "due in part to nearly 15 years of underfunding its state and local pensions," she noted.

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The study also shows that Republican governors appear overall to do a better job running a sound fiscal ship than Democrats.

Of the top 10 most fiscally sound states, all but one — Montana — have a Republican governor. And Montana is generally a conservative state, having voted for the GOP candidate in each of the past five presidential elections.

Of the bottom 10, all but two — New Jersey and Pennsylvania — are run by Democratic governors and consistently vote Democratic.