Veepstakes: McCain on Romney
Posted: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 5:43 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ’s Mike Memoli
THE SHORT LIST. John McCain gave his fairly standard answer on Mitt Romney as a VP contender: “Mitt Romney is a great person, and he's done a great job for us, and we're really pleased at the cooperation and help that he's given us and he won millions of Republican votes so there will be a big place for him in the Republican party in the future, but obviously we're not talking about specific candidates.”
Bob Dole’s former manager says he expects McCain to name his VP on the Friday after the Dem convention. Scott Reed: "It would be a good way to quash Obama's bounce."
WHAT THEY’RE UP TO. Hillary Clinton really loves New York. She said in Syracuse today that the hardest part of campaigning was that she “missed actually physically being in the state and having a chance to see my friends and see a lot of what I care about around the state.”
Gov. Janet Napolitano (D-AZ) said today that she doesn’t think the state needs an amendment to ban gay marriage, but would leave it up to the voters. “I believe marriage is between a man and a woman and I don't think this constitutional amendment is necessary, so personally I'm going to oppose it,” Napolitano said.
Charlie Crist signed Florida up to join the Powerball lotto. Jeb Bush had taken the state out when he took office. Crist also arranged for the state to pay Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway $224 million for hurricane protection.
ON THE RECORD. Colin Powell was in Providence last night, and said: “I am not interested in political life, and I am not a candidate for any office. … Right now, my only responsibility as a citizen is to vote. What else I might do remains to be seen.”
A source tells Karen Tumulty that Powell won’t make an endorsement in the race until after the conventions.
Powell already donated the maximum to McCain.
VEEP VETTING. In case there were any questions, Joe Biden can legally be on the ballot this November for both re-election to the Senate and election as VPOTUS. Elaine Manlove, commissioner of elections in the First State, says that the question first came up during his presidential campaign, and that the same holds if he is tapped for the number two slot. “It’s not that our law says he can, it’s that it doesn’t say it at all. There’s nothing in Delaware law that says he can’t.” She adds that Biden “would be an outstanding choice.” Also, she says I was the first to ask the question in regards to his possible VP status. No one from Chicago has called just yet.
The National Taxpayers Union looks at Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s (R-MN) record on fiscal matters, and criticizes him for big spending increases and no tax cuts.
BUZZ METER. Buried in the New York Times Limbaugh profiles, the talk show host anoints LA Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) as “his candidate for the Conservative Restoration.” He says he is “fresh, energetic and optimistic in his view of America.”
Walter Shapiro looks at the Biden buzz. "In choosing a vice president, you want somebody who can be on the campaign trail day after day, taking the pressure off the candidate," said David Wilhelm, a former Democratic national chairman, who backed Biden in the primaries and is now an Obama advisor. "You want somebody who can drive the message of the day and can win the vice-presidential debate. One of the things that this campaign showed is that Joe Biden is a good retail politician."
ELECTORAL MATH. Thirty-six percent of FL voters favor McCain picking Crist for VP, 47 percent oppose. And only 14 percent of CT voters would be more likely to vote for McCain if Joe Lieberman is on the ticket, while 32 percent say it’s less likely.
CHATTERING CLASS. Andrew Romano profiles KS Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. “Her popularity and electoral success in a region where Democrats need to do better nicely echoes Obama's pledge to transform the map in the fall, sending a signal that Democrats are serious about competing for Republican votes.” And bonuses include her Ohio roots and Catholic faith. But her SOTU response “bombed,” picking a woman not named Clinton may offend her backers, and some have pointed to the risky imagery of her and Obama together.
Steve Kornacki writes of Wes Clark: “This week’s events, unfair though they may be, will simply exclude from the selection process a man who probably shouldn’t have been included in the first place.” Bob Novak says Clark “talked his way out of what was shaping as a serious chance” to be his VP.
