comMITTed to Romney!

I was driving from my home in Kirkwood, Mo. to Clayton, Mo. to get my new auto license plates this morning and I was listening to the conservative ( what else? ) talk radio station in St. Louis, 97.1 FM, when I heard the co-host, Jamie Allman, say that he had just gotten information that McCain, Romney and Huckabee had announced that they will host a campaign rally at a minor league ball park in the St. Louis suburb of O’Fallon, Mo. on Sunday Aug. 31!!!

Jamie said that the info was so new that they didn’t have it up on their website at the time I was listening to the show. When I got home around 5:30 PM, I logged on and went to my emails first and then to this site to see what had been posted. I didn’t see any posts or emails on the event, so I thought to myself, did I get the info right? When I clicked on the station’s website, all the information I heard this morning was there. The site had this to say: “Join 97.1 FM Talk at the Road to the Convention Rally with John and Cindy McCain with his newly announced VP running mate on August 31, 2008 at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O’Fallon, Mo.” Special guest appearances by Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and country singer John Rich.

I don’t want to be a sensationalist or to spread false hype. At this point, this is all I know. We are heading up to McCain’s St. Louis H.Q. early Saturday morning to get tickets. I’ll post again tomorrow as soon as we get back. In the meantime, if any eagle-eyed Mittheads scope out any more skinny, please weigh in at the comments section.

~~John Cronin~~

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12711.html

And that interpretation was reinforced when word spread among Romney loyalists last night that the vice presidential rollout tour included Michigan.

But Michigan is a battleground, and the tour also includes a stop in the swing state of Ohio a week from today.

Making matters more confusing, Politico has learned that McCain will visit suburban St. Louis for a major rally with Romney and his still-bitter primary nemesis Mike Huckabee on Sunday, Aug. 31, the day before the start of the GOP convention.

Top Missouri Republicans yesterday received the invitation for a rally featuring McCain and his two top primary challengers. They’ll be joined by country star John Rich at a minor league baseball stadium in O’Fallon, Mo., about 35 miles west of St. Louis.

Missouri was hard-fought territory on Super Tuesday, with each of the three Republicans faring well. So the event would seem to represent a pre-convention unity rally in a swing state where each has a strong following. But Huckabee and Romney can hardly stand one another, and Huckabee has warned twice this month against selecting his once and perhaps future rival.

It would take a considerable act of pride-swallowing for Huckabee to stand before thousands of fans and watch as McCain touts Romney as his running mate.

But then it would take the same amount of magnamity for Romney to join such a rally the day before the convention if McCain were to tap somebody else as his veep choice and then laud that person in Missouri.

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Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s name is coming up more often in recent weeks as a possible McCain VP candidate. Reportedly, WIZBANG.COM had somebody “drop a dime” about a McCain advance man being spotted recently in Juneau.

~~John Cronin~~

http://wizbangblog.com/content/2008/05/29/
alaska-gov-sarah-palin-to-meet-with-mccain-vp-search-team.php

A tipster sent us word that John McCain’s VP advance man Arthur Culvahouse has been spotted in Juneau, Alaska. There’s only one reason he would be there - to meet with Alaska Governor Sarah Palin about the Vice President position.

This comes on the heels of McCain’s Memorial Day weekend barbecue attended by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former White House budget director Rob Portman, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman. Supposedly that was in informal affair, not a vetting session, but it appears that the VP selection game is very much afoot.

Governor Palin would (in my estimation) make an excellent VP candidate for McCain. Thomas Cheplick at The American Spectator makes the case that she’s probably the only VP candidate who can balance the ticket against Obama. She’s also a potential magnet for disaffected Hillary Clinton voters, many of whom are just looking for a reason not to vote for Obama

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In 1992, James Carville, then political strategist for Bill Clinton, crafted the phrase “It’s the Economy Stupid” to focus his candidate as he ran against incumbent president George H.W. Bush. Sixteen years later, in the wake of the mortgage crisis and signs of a recession, John McCain’s handlers would do well to heed the advice of Mr. Carville, but with a twist.

The two main themes of the upcoming general election will be the economy and Iraq. McCain, a staunch supporter of the war in Iraq, cannot retreat from his position in the Middle East regardless of what happens there before November. On the other hand, McCain can shore up his ticket on the economic front by selecting someone who has a solid financial footing: former rival Mitt Romney.

Yesterday my colleague, Andrea Murphy, discussed the potential Republican ticket of John McCain and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Despite a recent poll suggesting that a McCain-Rice ticket could win New York in November (a feat no Republican has accomplished since Reagan-Bush in 1984), Mitt Romney is the right choice to join McCain on the ticket.

Beyond Condoleezza Rice’s status as a lightning rod for the failures of the Bush administration, the secretary of state does not address McCain’s largest weakness: his relative inexperience on financial issues.

Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, in addition to readers of Trailwatch, attacked Senator McCain’s first mortgage proposal, which the candidate submitted to Forbes. The criticism: this plan did not do enough to help homeowners hit by the mortgage crunch.

Yesterday, John McCain revised his policy, calling for more government intervention to aid “well-meaning homeowners” who cannot pay their mortgages. To his credit, McCain shows a willingness to modify his positions, but the new plan did not give details on who, exactly, would be eligible for government assistance, earning McCain a new round of criticism from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

What could Mitt Romney contribute to the Republican ticket? Before serving as governor of Massachusetts, Romney was chief executive of Bain & Company and co-founder of spin-off private equity firm Bain Capital where, over his 14-year stint at the helm, the company enjoyed great success.

A March campaign stop in Utah may have laid the groundwork for a future alliance between the former adversaries. Romney has pledged to raise $15 million for McCain, and he stumped for McCain in Lancaster, Pennsylvania yesterday.

A McCain-Romney ticket makes sense for both men. McCain gets a boost on economic issues and Romney gets a seat next to McCain in the White House—assuming they manage a victory in November. The increased exposure would serve Romney well should he choose to seek the presidential nomination in the future. Considering John McCain’s age, Romney’s chance could come as soon as 2012 if a victorious McCain decided to only serve one term.

–Paul M. Murdock

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I have created a petition to ask Sen. McCain to choose Gov. Romney as his running-mate. If you are interested in signing it, please click here.

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I have already posted the link to the anti-Mitt petition; however, I want to make sure everyone is aware that you have the option to write comments to Sen. McCain, and to select that you are willing to vote for an “M&M” ticket. There are already many pro-Romney comments. 

If you wish to sign the petition and indicate that you are willing to vote for Governor Romney click here.

Update: the following has been posted on the anti-Mitt site 

ADVISORY: Romney supporters are signing this petition against him using false e-mail addresses in order to leave comments critical of this group. They have signed an anti-Romney petition to make a pro-Romney statement! The practice is as two faced as the man they follow!

I don’t know what brought about the false e-mail charge; but It is apparent that we have struck a chord.

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