TRENTON — A new book reveals that Gov. Chris Christie threatened to say the F-word live and in prime time on national television during his keynote speech at the Republican National Convention last August, according to a report by CNN.com.

The director of the convention told his crew to cut to an introduction video for Christie minutes before the governor was about to take the stage, the report says, citing the book, "Collision 2012," by Dan Balz of The Washington Post.

Christie, who had gone through 16 drafts of the speech, waited for Ann Romney — wife of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney — to finish her speech, according to CNN, which obtained an advance copy of the book. But organizers were worried the night was getting too long and networks would cut the broadcast off at 11 p.m., the report says.

Then, Christie was told his three-minute intro would be cut due to time constraints, according to the report. The governor told a member of the production team he insisted they show the video, but the director said he was still cutting it, the report says.

"Christie told her to ask the director if he had ever heard anyone say 'f***' on live television, because that's what he was about to do if the video didn't run," the book reads.

As Christie walked to the stage, he repeated that "if the video wasn't shown, he wasn't going to deliver the speech," the book reads.

Christie and the director exchanged "more sharp words," and finally Mitt Romney's convention team leader told them to play the video, the report says. Christie told them he'd finish by 11, according to the report.

Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak declined to comment.

State Sen. Barbara Buono, the Democrat taking on Christie in this year's governor's race, said the convention incident was another example of the persona of Christie "being chipped away"

"This is the real Chris Christie," Buono said during a campaign event in Newark today. "The real Chris Christie is somebody who holds no convictions other than his own political aspirations."

The video is the same one Christie showed at the first town hall he held after returning from the convention last year, drawing the ire of Democrats who complained that the governor ran a political clip at a taxpayer-funded event. The New Jersey Ethics Commission looked into the matter, but decided Christie did nothing wrong.

Balz's book also described how Romney's team vetted Christie as a potential vice presidential candidate. Christie told Romney that his personality "is kind of big" and that he'd wouldn't fit in the VP role, the report says.

Eventually, it was a rule by the Securities and Exchange Commission known as "pay to play" that made Christie a tough pick, according to the report. The rule prevents the country's largest banks from donating to campaigns of state and local officials in states where big banks and bond companies do business, the report says. Thus, Romney's campaign would not be able to accept donations from Wall Street because Christie is governor of New Jersey, according to the report.

Christie would have had to resign his governorship to get around the rule, but he laughed at the idea and said he needed time to think about it, the report says.

"After that phone call, Romney and Christie had no further conversations about joining the ticket," the book reads.

The book also discussed how some of the country's top business people, donors and Republican statesmen pressured Christie to run for president early in his term as governor.

Star-Ledger staff writers Jenna Portnoy and David Giambusso contributed to this report.

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