Top spot for Gov. Christie could be GOP Convention keynote speech; allows room for future in White House, N.J.

Top spot for Gov. Christie could be GOP Convention keynote speech; allows room for future in White House, N.J.

Jenna Portnoy/Statehouse Bureau

Posted: 06/17/2012 6:00 AM

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TRENTON — Even before it became clear that Mitt Romney would be the GOP presidential nominee, many wondered whether his most outspoken surrogate, Gov. Chris Christie, was angling for an invitation to run for vice president.

But there’s another high-profile role that could exploit the Garden State governor’s talents and catapult him in the minds of Republican voters already surveying the 2016 field: keynote speaker at the GOP Convention in Tampa.

Romney has given no hints about who he’ll recruit as a running mate or ask to deliver the plum prime-time address. And Christie’s camp won’t comment.

But people who keep close watch over the governor’s career moves privately say keynote speaker makes the most sense because it would allow him to consider a future White House bid while seeking a second term as governor.

In addition, a keynote speech can take a political career to new heights, with Barack Obama’s performance in the 2004 Democratic National Convention a prime example.

"He’s one of the best speakers ever. He’d be a wonderful choice — the best," said former Gov. Tom Kean, who nurtured Christie’s boyhood passion for politics and delivered the 1988 Republican keynote in New Orleans. "I don’t think any (others) have the magic that our governor has."

Christie already excels at satisfying the Republican Party base, as he did in a recent speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Chicago. At the same time, Christie was restrained compared with other speakers at the conference, who used the harshest of terms to describe Obama.

Kean said this is the kind of balance a keynote speaker must make, giving enough rhetorical red meat for the party faithful while also appealing to independents who can sway elections.

"If you neglect one or another you’re in trouble," said Kean. "You’re talking to troop leaders, but that’s not really your mission. You have to move independent voters to your candidate. That’s more important than anything."

Former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), who delivered one of three keynotes at the 1992 Democratic Convention in New York, said that like a campaign’s tone and talking points, the choice of speaker is about marketing.

"Does he want to send a conservative message, a moderate message?" Bradley asked of Romney. "Does he want to have a woman up front? Does he want to show that the party is diverse?"

Instead of launching a career, President George H. W. Bush tapped Kean in 1988 to honor a party statesman who had won re-election with 70 percent of the vote.

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Kean remembered seeking the counsel of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, who gave the keynote at the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco. He also said he revised his speech up until the night before, but the final version never made it onto the teleprompter. Two pages in, he had to switch to a hard copy. "Lucky I had the text in front of me," Kean recalled. "I don’t trust technology."

Bradley, whose retired Knicks jersey hung from the rafters at Madison Square Garden during his speech, said he tried not to squander the intimacy of a television portal into people’s homes.

"That is the fundamental question," he said. "Do you speak to the hall or do you speak to the television camera? If you speak to the hall, it can be much more rhetorical. If you speak to the crowd, it can be much more intimate."

Ben Dworkin, a political science professor at Rider University, has been predicting a Christie keynote for about a year.

"He’ll be an outstanding choice for keynote because of what he represents, a conservative Republican getting elected in a quote unquote blue state," Dworkin said. "Also because he gives a really, really good ‘Republicans are great. Democrats suck’ speech."

When Bill Clinton’s campaign called on Bradley, he had just taken himself out of the running for the vice presidential slot.

Christie hasn’t taken that step — at least not publicly — but subtly plays down the idea of being No. 2. One example came last week at a town hall in Haddonfield, where the governor talked about his commitment to New Jersey.

"I had and have an obligation to the people of this state," he said. "And, to me it kind of feels like you’re dating a woman for a while and you’re really excited about it and then another really pretty woman walks into the room and she kind of makes the eye at you, like, hey, why don’t you come over here? And like if you bolt from the woman you’re with for a while and you go over to the prettier one, what’s that mean? Not good, not good in my mind, right?"

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