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McCain Settles on Running Mate

Posted on: Friday, 29 August 2008, 09:15 CDT

By Liz Sidoti / The Associated Press

Republican presidential candidate John McCain decided on a running mate early Thursday, and top prospects waited to hear from the nominee-in-waiting.

"There's nothing really new to report on Senator McCain's decision. I think we'll all hear from him shortly, and hopefully we'll be able to move forward together," Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty said in Minneapolis. Earlier in Denver and without explanation, Pawlenty called off an AP roundtable interview as well as other media appearances at the site of the Democratic National Convention.

Another prospective candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, met with donors throughout California on Thursday and was in Los Angeles and Orange County by evening. "I don't have anything for you right now," Romney said earlier in the day when asked about the search for a running mate.

McCain will appear with his No. 2 at an Ohio rally today, aides said, though they provided no details on whom he had chosen to join the Republican ticket. At least two more rallies are planned for Pennsylvania and Missouri in the run-up to next week's convention.

Others believed to be in contention include Democrat-turned- independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who was vacationing on New York's Long Island, and former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge.

However, fueling speculation that McCain had chosen either Pawlenty or Romney or another conservative Republican, two GOP officials said they believed McCain had picked a traditional candidate. They based their conclusion on the belief that the campaign, which once had put the party on notice to prepare for the possibility of an unconventional candidate, does not have preparations in place to curb the fallout from the right flank that could revolt if Ridge, an abortion-rights backer, or Lieberman, a former Democrat, was on the ticket.

It also was possible that McCain would choose a dark horse from any number of names that have circulated.

If he knew McCain's decision, Pawlenty gave nothing away when he arrived back at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and, later, as he attended a volleyball game at the high school where one of his daughters is a 10th-grader.

Pawlenty said he still plans to be at the Minnesota State Fair today, where he's to do his weekly radio show, and that he had no plans to fly to Ohio.

Romney, who had played the GOP attack-dog role earlier in the week at the Democratic convention, left his beachfront San Diego home Thursday morning with an overnight bag. His son, Matt, said Romney was headed to an unspecified location in the state. Romney was meeting with his financial backers in hopes of helping the GOP raise money.

McCain, for his part, was uncharacteristically silent.

As he and his wife, Cindy, boarded a plane in Phoenix bound for Dayton, Ohio, reporters shouted a barrage of questions at the senator about whether he'd made up his mind. McCain wasn't biting. He flashed a double thumbs-up and boarded the plane.

Image Courtesy Wikipedia

Source: Virginian - Pilot

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