WASHINGTON — Donald Trump wanted his convention to be a flashy, theatrical event packed with celebrities and sports heroes.
A partial list of speakers released Thursday by the Republican National Convention committee was heavier on politicians and business executives, including Continental Resources founder Harold Hamm, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel and Colony Capital founder Tom Barrack.
Republicans' top leaders in Congress, Sen. Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, are on the roster of 62 people, along with 10 other members of Congress and four governors.
Sports figures on the list include Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White and professional golfer Natalie Gulbis. Professional football player Tim Tebow was listed in plans obtained by the New York Times earlier, but didn't appear on the list released by the convention committee.
A final list will be released later, the committee said.
Potential running mates Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, and Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker, are listed.
So is retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, another potential running mate, is not.
Trump said he will announce his No. 2 choice Friday morning ahead of the four-day convention's start on Monday.
Sen. Ted Cruz, who came closest to beating Trump in the presidential primary and whom Trump needled as "Lyin' Ted," is on the list, along with other onetime White House hopefuls Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee and Scott Walker.
Carson quickly became a close ally of Trump's after he dropped out of the 2016 race.
He will speak Tuesday night with a "nobody but Trump" theme, said Armstrong Williams, an adviser to Carson.
"We must be a unified party and we must defeat Hillary Clinton, whether it's religious freedom or Supreme Court nominees. It can't be nobody but Trump," Williams said.
Ryan, who created turmoil within the GOP by initially withholding his endorsement of Trump after the real-estate developer and TV personality clinched the nomination, has said he intends to take the podium to talk about conservative solutions and how the party can unite around common principles.
Trump has said on the campaign trail that he wants the event to be a gathering of "winners" and not just elected officials like at past conventions.
"We're going to do it a little different, if that's OK," he said in Virginia in June. "I'm thinking about getting some of the great sports people who like me a lot.
"We are totally over-booked. We have great speakers, we have winners, we have people that aren't only political people," he added on Fox News on Tuesday.
In recent weeks, his campaign's wish list included Bobby Knight, the former Indiana University basketball coach whom Trump frequently credits for his Indiana primary victory; boxing promoter Don King; tennis champion Serena Williams; former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka; boxing champion Mike Tyson; and NASCAR CEO Brian France.
None appeared on Thursday's partial list.
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