Gov. Chris Christie: No Chance I'll Tone It Down During Keynote Address
ASBURY PARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) - Governor Chris Christie is on his seventh draft of his keynote address for next week's Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla.
"I'm not nervous, no. I'm excited. It's a great opportunity for me personally, it's a great opportunity for our state," Christie said on Monday.
WCBS 880's Peter Haskell reports
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Christie told WCBS 880's Peter Haskell that likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney reached out the day before he announced his running mate.
"I called him and he told me that he had decided to go in a different direction for vice president. [He] asked me if I'd be willing to do the keynote address. I told him that I would be," Christie told Haskell.
Romney chose Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate, but Christie said there are no hard feelings.
"I think it's about the record we've established here and I think Gov. Romney is an admirer of that record and I think that's why he asked me," Christie told Haskell.
The famously brash governor said he has no plans to tone it down for the national audience.
"I don't think they have any expectation nor have they requested that I have a personality-ectomy between now and next Tuesday," Christie told Haskell. "They know what they're buying," Christie added.
The governor said he worked on his speech while he was on vacation last week.
The keynote speech is the highest-profile spot for someone not accepting the party's presidential or vice presidential nomination. The slot has launched many political figures including President Barack Obama, who was the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. Four years later, he won the White House.
The Republican National Convention will kick off from Tampa next Monday and wraps up Thursday, Aug. 30.
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