BRIDGEWATER – Part of the same fleet that once carried Chris Christie around the state, the bus roared up the ramp and blinkered into a diner that stands at the apex of a round-about, a routine scene of local car and truck crackups, and even today someone trying to get here had a fender bender but made it in time, albeit just slightly after a crowd that included state Senators Kip Bateman (R-16) and Mike Doherty (R-23) on the pave watched the door crank open as the bus deposited Republican Gubernatorial candidate Kim Guadagno.

All the buzz today in both parties centered around expectations of a late Republican Governors Association (RGA) ad drop on the New Jersey Governor’s race, a Willie Horton Hail Mary on the heels of this week’s New York City murders, to hear Democrats tell it; or just a hard-nosed closing argument, by the reckoning of Republicans.

InsiderNJ asked the campaign bus-barnstorming Gaudagno which case she wants to make in the closing days and hours as New Jersey prepares to go to the polls.

Sanctuary cities?

Or taxes?

Guadagno made clear that she can’t coordinate with the RGA, then specified the case as she sees it.

“The argument for me is Phil Murphy has promised to raise taxes on the most taxed people in this country and he’s promised to make New Jersey less safe by opening the doors to criminals who are illegal aliens in this country,” said New Jersey’s Lieutenant Governor and gubernatorial nominee. “Your liberty and prosperity are at stake. Those are the two issues we’ve been talking about for the last couple of weeks.”

That’s what she would hit in a closing 30-second ad.

“He’s promised to raise your taxes, I wont, and he’s promised to make New Jersey a sanctuary state,” Guadagno said.

InsiderNJ asked the candidate about a perceived suburbs versus cities dichotomy in the contest, with the Murphy Campaign apparently in full-fledged urban GOTV mode and Guadagno tasked with inflating the burbs.

Guadagno said she doesn’t see the contest that way.

“This is about pocketbook issues that cross party lines, gender lines, and town lines,” she said. “This is about taxes.”

The diner was almost barren, with the Republican elected officials, anchored by Bateman and Doherty, overtaking the eatery on Guadagno’s heels.

Assemblyman John DiMaio (R-23), Somerset County Freeholder Brian Levine, and Manville Mayor Richard Onderko joined the entourage.

They were all impressed by Guadagno.

“I think she can win,” DiMaio told InsiderNJ. “I do.”

A radiant and good humored Guadagno leaped into the room and made contact with three groups of people, where people in each clump identified two issues that irk them.

Sanctuary states and taxes.

“We didn’t plant these people here,” Guadagno cracked.

One man regaled the LG on the double barrels of those points.

“We’re a red county, but we’re a blue state,” he griped.

“Somerset’s changing, though,” Bateman was quick to put in.

But, on the strength of Guadagno’s tax message, Onderko said he’s convinced tough, ex-factory town Manville is going to go for Guadagno.

“I’m, confident,” he said under a ball cap.