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Quick: Who was the Republican keynote speaker at the GOP鈥檚 2008 national convention? What about the guy who grabbed that lauded speaking role at the Democratic convention that year?

The answers are former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and now-Sen. Mark Warner (D) of Virginia, respectively.

But the real answer is: They were largely immaterial to Election 2008.聽

Tuesday night, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) gives a much-anticipated keynote address at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. The speech will be in prime time, with all four broadcast networks covering it live.

It鈥檚 鈥渕uch anticipated鈥� because Governor Christie is a rousing orator with a gift for straight (and often colorful) talk. But what is the potential impact of the marquee opening-night address? If anything, it will likely be on the speaker's own political career, not the presidential race.

鈥淜eynote convention speeches can be a huge leg up in someone鈥檚 own political career,鈥� said Stephen Farnsworth, a political scientist at Mary Washington University in Fredericksburg, Va. 鈥淭he real impact is for the individual doing the speaking more than for the party.鈥�

Indeed, there's聽no recent historical precedent for a keynote address affecting the hopes of the nominated presidential candidate.

Despite Christie鈥檚 effectiveness as a speaker, Professor Farnsworth says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to imagine much of anything happening this week that moves the needle all that much,鈥� because there are fewer undecided voters than in previous cycles.

鈥淚f they鈥檝e been undecided through all of the onslaught through the television ads and new stories so far I鈥檓 not sure the convention is going to pull them off the fence,鈥� Farnsworth says.

And there鈥檚 only one recent example of a convention keynote propelling the speaker to greater political heights. The聽best-case scenario for Christie, it seems, is that he could be the next Barack Obama.

It was in 2004 that Mr. Obama, then an obscure state senator in Illinois, offered a speech that blew the roof off the Fleet Center in Boston. A little good fortune and a lot of ambition 鈥� and the notoriety he gained in Boston that night 鈥� propelled Obama to the US Senate that year and then to the White House in 2008.

But Obama鈥檚 speech didn鈥檛 shine any light on presidential hopeful John Kerry, who went to defeat.

The history of other convention keynote speakers has been similarly undistinguished.

Democrat-turned-Republican Zell Miller offered the keynote for President George W. Bush in 2004. While Mr. Miller鈥檚 speech was fiery, none credit it with helping Bush over the finish line, and Miller was out of politics.

Bush went without a formal keynote in 2000, splitting the honors between Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona and retired Gen. Colin Powell. Senator McCain went on to become his party鈥檚 nominee in 2008, but the speech was a footnote, at best, in the rise of an often iconoclastic public figure.

In 2000, Democrats served up then-Rep. Harold Ford (D) of Tennesee, the youngest member of Congress at the time. Mr. Ford went on to an inspired but eventually unsuccessful run for the Senate 鈥� and a much longer career as a contributor to political television programs.

Going further back, check out this helpful聽. But in looking over the historical record since 1980, there鈥檚 not a single keynote address that stands out as a game-changer for anyone save Obama.聽聽

Christie, for his part, described the goal of Tuesday鈥檚 speech first in personal terms.

He hopes viewers say, 鈥淵up, that鈥檚 him, that鈥檚 who I heard about. Seems genuine to me,鈥� as Christie put it on Good Morning America on Tuesday.

But the second part of his goals sounded downright presidential.

鈥淎nd if they say, 鈥業 like the vision he鈥檚 laid out for the country and for his party for the next four years,鈥� 鈥� Christie said, 鈥渢hen I will have done my job for my party and my country.鈥�

And that bit of aspirational flourish adds a little truth to Farnsworth鈥檚 dictum for politicians: 鈥淚f you have a choice in politics of being on television in prime time or not,鈥� he says, 鈥測ou choose being on TV in prime time every time.鈥�