New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will deliver the keynote speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa at the end of August. Christie said he will make an "emphatic" argument for addressing the United States's most pressing problems.
The loud and sometimes brash politician will deliver a 20-minute speech, which he said he is writing himself, focusing on why presumptive nominee Mitt Romney should be elected, rather than why President Barack Obama should not be re-elected. Christie said he will show that Americans are willing to make sacrifices to fix the problems facing the nation:
"I'll try to tell some very direct and hard truths to people in the country about the trouble that we're in and the fact that fixing those problems is not going to be easy for any of them," Christie said.
[See a collection of political cartoons on the 2012 campaign.]
Christie, who briefly considered running for the Republican nomination himself, said the time was not right for him to run in 2012. Although he said he hopes to return to the GOP convention in 2016 to renominate President Mitt Romney, his convention speech may be an indicator of the possibility of being a presidential nominee himself in the future.
President Barack Obama spoke at the 2004 Democratic Convention before being nominated as the party's presidential candidate in 2008.
[Check out our editorial cartoons on President Obama.]
Christie is popular nationally, and was also considered to be a potential pick for Romney's vice president. Republicans point to his record as governor as proof that Republican fiscal policies are effective:
"As governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie has proven how bold Republican leadership gets results," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in a release. "He has fearlessly tackled his state's most difficult challenges, while looking out for hardworking taxpayers. Gov. Christie will make the case for America's Comeback Team and will rally our party and country in support of the Romney-Ryan ticket."
The selection of Christie as the keynote is the second bold choice made by the Romney campaign in recent days, following the selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as the vice presidential nominee.
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- Read Ron Bonjean: Five Reasons Paul Ryan Is the Right Choice for Mitt Romney
- Read Jamie Stiehm: Paul Ryan's Dangerous Obsession with Ayn Rand
- Check out U.S. News Weekly: an insider's guide to politics and policy.
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