Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani will give the keynote address at the Republican National Convention next month and Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Lieberman also will take center stage at the GOP gathering.John McCain's vanquished Republican primary rivals -- and a slew of potential McCain running mates -- also have speaking roles at the four-day gathering in St. Paul, Minn.
President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, first lady Laura Bush, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lieberman, who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000 and is said to be under consideration for the same role with McCain, will open the convention on Monday, Sept. 1, with speeches that focus on service.
When asked about the RNC lineup, McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis said:
'the senator wanted the list of speakers to showcase the "diversity" of the Republican Party."I think one of the things that is important, especially for John McCain, as unique a politician as he is, is to demonstrate the diversity and differences of ideology I would say of our party," Davis said. "I think one of the things that people forget about is we are not a very monolithic as a party. We really want to show some of that."'