TAMPA, Fla. — Chris Christie introduced himself to the nation Tuesday night, delivering a Republican National Convention speech that went light on references to Mitt Romney and instead focused on the New Jersey governor’s tenure in office, governing philosophy and his belief in the importance of being respected instead of loved. 
 
 Indeed, the much-anticipated speech had a different message than the one that was given just before it by Ann Romney, who focused on love and their marriage as she talked about her husband. 
 
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 reset Christie: 'Power of ideas, not rhetoric' 
 
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 Instead, Christie talked about lessons he learned from his mother about the need for respect. 
 
 “The greatest lesson Mom ever taught me, though, was this one: she told me there would be times in your life when you have to choose between being loved and being respected,” he said. “She said to always pick being respected, that love without respect was always fleeting — but that respect could grow into real, lasting love. Now, of course, she was talking about women.” 
 
 “But I have learned over time that it applies just as much to leadership. In fact, I think that advice applies to America today more than ever. I believe we have become paralyzed by our desire to be loved. Our Founding Fathers had the wisdom to know that social acceptance and popularity is fleeting and that this country’s principles needed to be rooted in strengths greater than the passions and emotions of the times.” 
 
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 It was a different address than many had been expecting. Christie spent less time selling Romney as a candidate and a potential president, and more time defining the way he sees the party’s future — in strokes related to fiscal conservatism. He mentioned Romney several times in the latter part of the speech, but not for the first 15 minutes or so. 
 
 A number of Republicans praised the speech in private conversations, saying it presents a roadmap for the party. Christie’s aim, others insisted, was to use his state as a model for how Romney and others can wage tough fights. 
 
 It was a reminder that Christie, who many Republicans had hoped would run this time and is a much-discussed candidate for 2016, is still seen as one of the future leaders of a party that believes this is a winnable election, but has hoped for Romney to wage a different, more aggressive campaign. 
 
 There were other fine points in Christie’s keynote address. He made reference to his famous fights with the teachers’ unions, saying that unlike Democrats, his party instead “loves teachers.” He was not an attack dog, but he was aggressive in his tone and in his volume. He had the crowd the most engaged they were all night, and GOP delegates rose to their feet. 
 
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 “Now we must lead the way our citizens live. To lead as my mother insisted I live, not by avoiding truths, especially the hard ones, but by facing up to them and being the better for it,” he said. 
 
 “I know because this was the challenge in New Jersey,” he said. “When I came into office, I could continue on the same path that led to wealth, jobs and people leaving the state or I could do the job the people elected me to do — to do the big things. There were those who said it couldn’t be done. The problems were too big, too politically charged, too broken to fix. But we were on a path we could no longer afford to follow.” ||||| Chris Christie: No teleprompter for launch 
 
 Gov. Chris Christie’s launch rally at his high school in New Jersey on Tuesday will include friends who remember his years as class president — but no teleprompter, in an effort to live up to Christie’s campaign slogan, “Telling it like it is.” 
 
 With the independent-minded voters of New Hampshire the key to his come-from-behind strategy, Christie will spend five straight days in the Granite State, beginning the evening of his announcement day. Plunging into the hand-to-hand campaigning that First Staters relish, he’ll hold at least three town halls and attend a Fourth of July celebration, plus various house and diner stops. 
 
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 Offering himself as a pragmatic, results-oriented conservative, Christie will signal his willingness to take on tough issues that others duck, notably entitlements. Another key part of Christie’s message will be his ability to win and govern in a blue state, where he did well in his reelection race with women, Hispanics and even Democrats. 
 
 A top adviser said the announcement tour is meant to showcase a Christie strength: “Communicating to bring people to his side — even people who don’t agree on every issue.” 
 
 Christie’s wife, Mary Pat, and the rest of his family, along with longtime supporters and friends, will jam the gym at Livingston High School, where he was president for three years, for the 11 a.m. bash. The invocation will be by Joe Carter, pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, who has been a key voice for Christie in the African-American community. 
 
 The adviser said the audience “will see a lot of who he is as a person,” including the middle-class upbringing that shaped him: the influence of his late mother, his Irish father working at the Breyers ice cream plant in Newark to put himself through Rutgers, a grandmother who was a Sicilian immigrant and a single mother. 
 
 A preview video shows Christie at a town hall, saying that his loud candor has its roots in his loving, trusting family. 
 
 The adviser said Christie welcomes the discussion about the bridge closing and subsequent investigation at this point. 
 
 “To get past it, there has to be a little discussion,” the adviser said. “People can see now that everything he said was true. That doesn’t mean that the damage is undone. But people and donors are moving past it for the first time. For the most part, people will be looking to the future, not the past.” 
 
 After the announcement speech, Christie will fly to New Hampshire for a 6 p.m. Tuesday town hall in Sandown. On Wednesday, he has an endorsement announcement at Mary Ann’s Diner in Derry, then an afternoon house party in Bridgewater, followed by a town hall at the American Legion hall in Ashland, in Grafton County. 
 
 On Thursday, he has a town hall in Rochester, and he stops by the Pink Cadillac Diner. Then it’s on to a luncheon in Portsmouth, followed by an endorsement announcement and a house party. He’ll remain in New Hampshire on Friday, with events to be announced, and on Saturday will celebrate the Fourth of July with his new best friends in the Granite State. 
 
 Mike DuHaime, Christie’s longtime strategist, will advise the campaign from the outside. Close adviser Maria Comella has moved to his PAC. Samantha Smith, the PAC’s communications director, and James Garcia, the PAC’s political director, are expected to play similar roles from the campaign, which will be based in northern New Jersey. 
 
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– Charismatic New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie last night ripped into the Democrats and the "debacle" of ObamaCare, and hailed a presidential candidate ready to "talk hard truths" and make tough decisions to cut costs to restore the nation to economic health. The Democrats "believe the American people need to be coddled by big government," and will "whistle a happy tune while they drive us off a fiscal cliff," he told a wildly enthusiastic crowd in his keynote address at the Republican National Convention. "They believe in teachers unions, we believe in teachers. Our ideas are right for America, theirs have failed America. America needs Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, and we need them right now." As his speech wound up, Christie called conventioneers to their feet, saying: "I'm here to begin with you this new era of truth telling. Tonight we stand up for Mitt Romney." Christie launched his speech with a tribute to his late mom, the second speaker—after Ann Romney—to pointedly court the female vote. In his family, "my dad was just a passenger," quipped Christie. "My mom was in the driver's seat." He repeatedly called himself "my mother's son."