On the very day Barack Obama is to deliver his historic acceptance speech in Denver, a great deal of the airtime is being devoted to the other party!
Beginning last night, a lot of speculation started to swirl that John McCain had made his choice for his running mate. Politico was leading with this coverage [5] last night. Then, as Politico reads today [6], "McCain decided to make things complicated."
In a morning interview McCain told Pittsburgh radio station KDKA that he hasn't made up his mind, though he will be bringing Mitt Romney and Tom Ridge to his rally in Pennsylvania this weekend.
KDKA: "McCain said in an early morning radio interview that he was bringing along to that event both former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, two of the leading names on his short list. But he cautioned against assuming that meant either one would be the pick."
Mike Allen says McCain's playing coy, even though his friends "say he has told his inner circle of his pick, but won't call the decision official until he has discussed it with his wife, Cindy, who has been in the country of Georgia.
Rollcall.com is reporting this afternoon that Romney's family is getting a security sweep [7] from the Secret Service.
If security sweeps are the giveaway, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may be on the brink of being selected as Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) vice presidential running mate.
According to sources with strong Michigan ties, the Secret Service has conducted a security sweep of the home of Romney's sister. Romney was raised in Michigan, where his father served as governor.
Rollcall.com also offers this notable observation [7]:
Other sources and some news reports have also suggested that Romney in the last few days might be traveling with a security detail, although exactly who employs this security detail could not be confirmed.
Whatever is going on behind the scenes with McCain and his VP selection, it seems that whomever the final choice ends up being, McCain has definitely stolen a good bit of the limelight away from Obama on such an important occasion.
It's probably best that things continue to go in this direction, without McCain actually showing all his cards and pulling the trigger on the choice. He shouldn't get greedy, but instead take this nice slice of the pie away from the Democrats' night for what they are getting. Then, after a day or so, once the Democrats have left Denver, they're not going to have the means to counter what McCain is able to do. If McCain announces his running mate anytime before tomorrow, he's simply going to just give away much of the limelight from the VP selection to Obama, on the night of his major speech and the news cycle following - when that's really unnecessary. Keep it in that back pocket for a day.
This is beautiful political craftsmanship that we are witnessing here - really good stuff!
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Update: Fox News has now reported at 3:48 PM that John McCain has, indeed, chosen his running mate and will appear with the selection tomorrow for the first time.
Further, Fox News is reporting that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has cancelled all of appearances and wiped his schedule clean for the next several days. But, with that said, the chosen candidate still does not know who the selection is, at this time.
Govorner Romney has also cancelled several committments that had scheduled over the next several days, as well.
Stay tuned, as they say!
