He wasn’t picked to be the nominee for vice president, but New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will still have a big role to play at the Republican Party convention in Tampa later this month. Multiple media outlets are reporting that our governor will be the keynote speaker.
According to USA Today, Christie is already writing his speech:
“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. He’ll cite his experiences in New Jersey as evidence that “the American people are ready to confront those problems head-on and endure some sacrifice.”
The keynote speaker spot is generally viewed as a launchpad for politicians seeking the national spotlight. President Barack Obama was just a state senator from Illinois when he was asked to deliver the keynote at the Democratic Party convention in 2004. But Christie won’t be the only future hopeful to take the GOP stage. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who had also been rumored for the Republican vice presidential spot, will introduce Mitt Romney.
And Christie is looking at 2016, sort of. The governor told USA Today that he hoped to “come back at the next convention renominating President Romney and Vice President Ryan.”
