Chris Christie rouses RNC convention

TAMPA — Mitt Romney may be the Republican Party’s presidential nominee and Paul Ryan the ­running mate, but Chris Christie takes a back seat to no one in the GOP.

The New Jersey governor was once a possible rival to Romney. Although he insisted that he didn’t think he was ready to be president, Christie had to keep swatting away speculation and encouragement to jump into the race at a time when the party was still learning to love Romney.

Christie had a tough assignment on Tuesday night. He was the wrap-up speaker on opening night of the Republican National Convention and had the misfortune of appearing after Ann Romney, whose testimony in behalf of her husband connected with the audience, and then the visit to the convention hall by the nominee.

But it was Christie who helped inject some much-needed energy into an arena that had been surprisingly subdued through the early evening. He came on stage punching the air. He clapped as he approached the lectern, returning the welcome he received from the delegates as if to say: Wake up, Republicans. He demanded that they stand up, and they did.

The governor is a politician and an entertainer. On Tuesday, he was on better behavior at the Tampa Bay Times Forum arena than he sometimes is when he is on the loose in his state. He was more dialed down than over the top.

But Tuesday’s stage was the biggest of his political career, and as he spoke he was being measured not just as a surrogate for the Republican ticket but as part of the GOP’s rising generation and a possible future presidential candidate, depending on what happens in November.

His assignment was to make a case for Romney, something he has done repeatedly nationwide but never to an audience as large as he had on Tuesday. He offered up the trademark combination of Jersey pride, humor, direct talk and sharp words aimed at President Obama — things that have made him a folk hero to conservatives.

The speech was as much about Christie and what he has done in New Jersey as it was about Romney, his record and his vision. It was also a story many other Republican governors tell, through their own experiences, as they provide a model of the kind of conservative governance — cutting spending and taxes, challenging public employee unions and shrinking government — Christie said Romney would bring to Washington.

He argued that it’s better to be respected than loved — which is one way to persuade voters to back a Republican nominee who trails the president in likability. He said the campaign should be about big things — just what the Romney team has tried to argue at the same time it has been thrown off stride by smaller matters.

He called the election a test of whether Americans are ready to hear the truth about the nation’s future and he said he is confident that those who challenge the voters will be rewarded. He said his record in New Jersey proves that point.

“The disciples of yesterday’s politics underestimated the will of the people,” he said. “They assumed our people were selfish. . . . Instead, the people of New Jersey stepped up and shared in the sacrifice. They rewarded politicians who led instead of politicians who pandered.”