Report: Chris Christie to keynote GOP convention
(CBS News) Chris Christie is poised to deliver the Republican convention's keynote address in Tampa next month, some GOP leaders leaked Wednesday morning - a report which, if true, would effectively wipe the New Jersey governor from shortlists speculating Mitt Romney's VP pick.
One top party activist told the New York Post that Christie will speak Tuesday night of the convention, Aug. 28. "They're saying he's the keynoter," the source said.
But Christie himself, in Washington, D.C. for a fundraiser on Wednesday, told an NBC reporter he's "gotten no invitation to do anything like that." Convention press secretary Kyle Downey told CBS News that no decisions on the program have been finalized.
The report comes just as rumors had begun to resurrect about the famously candid Christie as a viable contender to be Romney's running mate. Historically, though, the convention's keynote speaker almost always appears on a separate night from the vice presidential nominee.
Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul, echoing a comment she made to CBS News on Monday about whether Sarah Palin would be granted podium time at the convention, said of the Christie buzz Wednesday on MSNBC: "You'll have to stay tuned."
