Christie Named Keynote Speaker at GOP Convention

(Newsroom America) -- Feisty New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will be the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention in Tampa later this month, saying he will be "direct" in telling some "truths" during his speech.

Christie, who was briefly rumored to be in the running as presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's vice presidential selection, is reportedly already working on a speech that will likely reflect both his personality and his trademark candor.

"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," the governor told USA Today, in announcing his role. He said he plans to hold up his experience in his own state dealing with a Democratic legislature to prove "the American people are ready to confront those problems head-on and endure some sacrifice."

Christie has managed to curtail public sector unions and lower the state's budget deficit during his tenure.

The keynote speech is the most notable role at the convention for someone not accepting his party's presidential or vice presidential nomination. The coveted slot has a history of introducing up-and-coming party figures to a national audience while putting their political careers on a fast track.

In 2004 the slot helped a little-known U.S. senator from Illinois - Barack Obama - win the presidency four years later.

For Christie, his star has been rising since becoming governor. As a former prosecutor, the 49-year-old's take-no-prisoners style of debate and rhetoric, combined with is fiscal austerity, has made him a star with the party's conservative base.

The keynote speech could help vault Christie to the top of prospective GOP nominees in 2016, if Romney loses in November, or 2020.

Christie became the first Republican governor of New Jersey in 12 years when he defeated incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine, a Democratic millionaire and Wall Street executive now embroiled in controversy following huge losses at MF Global, a firm in which he served as CEO that is now bankrupt.

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