Can you get elected by pointing out that your opponent is overweight or has a beard?

A fascinating little campaign for the New Jersey Governorship in the US. The sitting governor has been letting it be known that his opponent is.....er.......overweight. His opponent, Chris Christie, is here.

Christie has hit back with this priceless quote:

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. I know most of you didn't know this -- but the governor's been whispering this to the press for months and months and months, and now he's trying to be a little cute about talking about it too through his TV ads. I want to make sure you're all seated and you're OK before I let you in on a secret: I'm overweight.

(To be fair, the main example of the ads in question mainly drew attention to legal-type allegations and one wonders whether the weight issue has been raised as a smokescreen.)

Attention has also been drawn attention to the governor's beard. Yes, you read it right. Beard:

"If we talk about Christie's weight, we have to talk about Corzine's beard," said Sharon Schulman, executive director of Richard Stockton College's Hughes Center for Public Policy.

You can see said facial hair here.