Undaunted by the threat of Hurricane Isaac (whose projected strength upon landfall remains an open question) and the cancellation of Monday festivities, our very own Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) was scheduled to arrive in Tampa, Florida this morning ahead of his big Tuesday keynote address at the 2012 Republican National Convention.
The Monday cancellation was an easy decision, Save Jerseyans, since the networks had already declined to broadcast most of the first day’s events.
Governor Christie’s hugely-anticipated keynote address is a different story altogether.
What’s in the keynote? Only Chris Christie and his inner circle know for sure. His September 2011 speech at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California may provide some clues. At several official and political stops last week, the Republican Party’s most well-known (and popular) national figure told supporters and press that he wouldn’t pull punches as he “stood on the shoulders” of his NJGOP supporters…
The New Jersey GOP delegation is staying in a St. Pete Beach hotel roughly 30 miles away from the Tampa Bay convention site, a fact (and a distance) which we’re told has left many Garden State conventioneers less-than-enthused – Christie included! His Tuesday speech can nevertheless be counted on to turn those frowns upside down.
Tuesday’s entire theme is decidedly gubernatorial in character; Christie caps off a night also featuring speeches from Bobby Jindal (R-LA), Scott Walker (R-WI), Mary Fallin (R-OK) and Bob McDonnell (R-VA). And when the big moment finally arrives, I’ve been told to expect a classic Christie performance: entertainingly-harsh, uniquely New Jersey, and designed to effectively critique President Obama’s failed, hyper-partisan, less-than-honest stewardship of the federal government, specifically when contrasted with Christie’s neo-realist, brutally-honest approach to governance here in New Jersey.
Were you expecting something else? No one else in the party with a national profile can fire up both the base AND independents in the same speech quite like Chris Christie. Mitt Romney is counting on it in Tampa.
As to substance, reportedly, the words “Jersey Comeback” won’t feature prominently in the keynote despite the fact that this branding inspired the Romney campaign crafted its own “America Comeback” tagline, likely in order to mute Democrat criticisms of our state’s persistently rough unemployment rate. It’s a point of no consequence, Save Jerseyans. Despite the Trenton Democrats’ best efforts to thwart our economic comeback, New Jersey’s national image has objectively come a long way in the past three years; Tuesday’s keynote will be the most tangible evidence yet of Chris Christie’s largely successful efforts to improve it. Every Garden State resident regardless of political affiliation should swell with pride when Christie takes to the RNC podium!
