It may be another head fake like the one they gave Bob Novak earlier this week, but the Washington Post reports today that the McCain campaign may move to name a Vice-Presidential nominee sometime in the next two weeks:
Anxious to counter the blanket media coverage that has followed Sen. Barack Obama on his overseas journey, Sen. John McCain is weighing whether to announce his running mate in the coming weeks before the spotlight shifts to China and the opening of the Olympic Games next month.
“He’s in a position to make [the decision] on short notice if he wanted to,” said Charles R. Black Jr., one of McCain’s top political advisers.
Two top aides to the presumptive Republican nominee said the decision is likely to be announced after Obama returns from Europe on Sunday and before the Beijing Olympics begin Aug. 8. They said the campaign fears that unanticipated events coming out of China — whether in the form of athletic accomplishments or human rights protests — could deflect attention from the announcement if it were made during the Games.
The Olympics conclude the day before the Democratic nominating convention opens in Denver, and the GOP convention begins in Minneapolis-St. Paul just four days after the Democratic gathering ends.
Aides to the most likely candidates to join McCain on the ticket, meanwhile, offered terse “no comment” replies when asked whether they have been asked to provide documents that the campaign can use to vet backgrounds.
The list of likely contenders includes former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former U.S. budget director Rob Portman and former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge.
Jindal, of course, already said earlier this week that he was taking his name out of contention so that leaves Romney, Pawlenty, Portman, and Ridge. Frankly, your guess is as good as mine on this one.
