New Jersey has earned the right to be proud of itself again,” Gov. Chris Christie said yesterday at a Town Hall touting the economic turnaround in the state.

“We’re no longer the state that is the butt of jokes on late night television, with Letterman and Leno and Jimmy Kimmell and Jimmy Fallon and all the rest of those guys.” Christie said, explaining that the state was represented in the cable talk shows and evening news.

“If I had told you three years ago that a governor of New Jersey would be the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention, you would have never believed it,” Christie said.