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Artur Davis to Address Republican National Convention

Former Rep. Artur Davis will use his speech to express disappointment in President Obama's record; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will make the case for Mitt Romney.

Artur Davis was one of the first congressional lawmakers to endorse Barack Obama's White House bid in 2008, and seconded his nomination at the Democratic National Convention. The former lawmaker, who switched teams this year, will make a more formal debut as a Republican when he addresses the party's national convention in Tampa later this month.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement announcing the news that Davis "will give voice to the frustration and disappointment felt among those who supported President Obama."

During his time on Capitol Hill, Davis was frequently to the right of his Democratic colleagues on a number of issues and now appears to have firmly planted his feet on the other side. Offering a glimpse of what he plans to say at the convention, he suggested that Obama in 2008 was all talk but little action.

"The talk and inspiration moved so many of us four years ago, but unfortunately we haven't seen the action to back it up. We were promised jobs and we got job-killing mandates and regulations. We were promised a fiscally responsible government, and we got trillion dollar deficits, debt that has never been seen, and small business burdened with new taxes and threatened with more taxes," Davis said in a statement released by the RNC. "The time for talk is over. At the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Republicans [will] take a step to undo the mismanagement and nominate Mitt Romney as the next president of the United States."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will deliver the convention's keynote address. Those anticipating a bombastic speech from the no-holds-barred lawmaker could be disappointed. In an interview with USA Today earlier this week, Christie said that his speech is going to focus on why he believes Romney should be the nation's next president.

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(Photo: Paul Sancya / AP Photo)

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